


The Revenge of the King of Darkness

by Greghero



Category: Sword Art Online
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Canon, Blood, Dark, F/M, Politics, Psychology, Science, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-07-29 12:23:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 51,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7684399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greghero/pseuds/Greghero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A man sits at a bar drinking his virtual drink grimly<br/>'Aincrad is not the same anymore.' He starts saying to no one in particular 'Every month a new update comes and changes this sharpens the blades of this deathtrap just a bit more. Sentient NPCs, plunderable guilds, zones with no pain inhibitors... I am sick of it all! I just want this game to be over with no more bloodshed.' He finishes with a whistful tone<br/>'Ha! Fat chance' Chuckles humorlessly a younger avatar next to him before announcing dead serious 'War is coming' The man's eyes widened<br/>'What did you just say?'<br/>'Wait didn't you hear? The clearers are going to battle the Lauging Coffin. It is going to be a massacre.' Said the young one surprised<br/>'But why?' Asked desperately the man. The young one's face darkened.<br/>'The Dark King wants revenge!' Said the young one and left the bar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

 

 

**Prologue**

 

 

**King POV**

King sat still on his throne inside the throne room. His gaze locked on the darkness of the far end of the chamber, his hands gripping and relaxing the armrests with enough force to break them were they not immortal objects. He was furious and it showed. His eyes were the closest thing a human could get to "spitting fire". He observed the room, its banners, its flags, it's perfectly shaped columns to cool off but he couldn't. A voice in his head continued to repeat to him

_Your fault_. _You wasted your second chance. Your fault._

And deep inside him he knew this was true. He shouldn't have left her alone. She was his responsibility and he had let her down twice now. It was as if a black hole swiped all his thoughts and left him blank. Able only to curse himself for his inadequacy.

Images of the past kept pounding at his head like hammers giving him severe headaches but he prefered it. He prefered the physical pain to the mental one were he to let the pictures flow. To let the memories of all his regrets play before him again. After an hour or so the pain became so unbearable he let go. The memories immediatly flooded his head like a savage river. His past in the game played before him. The good, the bad and even worse the _present_.

**Flashback**

If just once Suguha could do what she was told that would be great but no such luck!

Kirito just stood in the center of the Plaza of the beginnings and stared at the tall, blonde, stunning, elf girl he had in front of him who just asked him to show her the ropes. He would have no issue with that if at the end of her sentence she hadn't added the word brother. It didn't take too long for Kirito to figure it out but what he managed to utter was just

'Suguha?'

The girl smiled impishly and said

'The one and only.'

'But how… and most importantly why?' He said still not certain he wasn't hearing things. Maybe it was a side effect of the Nerve Gear. His thoughts were stopped by her answer

'As for the how just an all night camp outside the store. The why, would be spite!' She said playfully

'Spite?' He asked now more curious than surprised as that sounded like something she would do. She could set her mind for the most ridiculous reasons and she would meticulously plan it out. He was really puzzled by her drive since he didn't have anything close to that.

'Well ofcourse. I wanted to see the world that had you not getting out of your room for days on end except eating. I wanted to see what was so fascinating and judge it on my own.' She said with awe in her voice but something else too… sorrow maybe or regret… he wasn't certain. Kirito sighed.

'Okaaaay I got it. So what now?' He asked in a cold tone. He really didn't want to stay with her any more than he had to. She was a painful reminder of the lies he had been told most of his life. Add that to the guilt he felt for indirectly making her train in swordsmanship with her grandfather in order to take his place and her person was loaded with too much negative emotion. He didn't like being rude to her but it was the lesser evil.

'Now, as I asked, you show me how this game works.' She said patronizingly.

'Fine but after today you are on your own.' He said. Suguha's face flashed with disappointment for a second but it was gone just as fast as it came. It gave a powerful pung of regret to Kirito but he didn't show. He really didn't want to do this but he couldn't stand the feeling he had when he was near her. He turned his head to the grass fields where the boars were. He would need some grinding anyway before he started playing seriously.

'Just try to keep up with me okay.' He said and the second he finished his sentence he started sprinting through the city to the fields. At times he turned to glance behind him to make sure she hadn't lost him. Yes he may want to be away from her but leaving her alone in a town with 9998 strangers didn't feel good. He still ran fast enough to be a good 20 meters ahead of her at all times slowing down minutely only at consecutive turns through the streets.

And then he bumped heads with someone.

'I am so sorry. Are you okay? It was my fault I tried to get your attention and got in your way thinking you would see me but…' The line of apologies was cut off by Kirito while he was standing up.

'It's okay. Don't worry. There is no pain system and you didn't _want_ to hurt me so I didn't take any damage.' He said pointing up at his health bar to illustrate his point. Kirito lowered his head to see a teen with long hair, red overalls, a bandana and goatee. He had seen worse. Then something in the previous sentence stroke him as odd. 'Wait… did you say you wanted to get my attention? I am sorry but I don't think I know you and…'

He was interrupted by something hitting him on the back. He fell flat on his face swallowing some dirt in the process. He really didn't want this to become a habit. He tried to get up but as he did he understood that someone was on top of him. He put his hands on the ground and with one swift move he jumped up, turned around and caught the person on top of him before he/she fell.

When he understood it was Suguha he held from the hip at that distance he grew as red as the chilly peppers he so much enjoyed. He all but pushed her away while he back stepped to put some distance between them.

Suguha stumbled a bit before she found her balance. She turned her gaze to him.

'What was that for?' She asked angry

'Well… I just… You see…' He stuttered. There were some things that were too awkward to mention.

'Whatever, leave it be. More importantly why did you leave me behind?' She asked getting more annoyed.

Kirito on the other hand was given a subject he could talk about freely so he regained his cool and answered non-chalantly

'I told you to keep up.' After that she just glared at him. The silence was broken by Klein.

'H-hello. My name is Klein.' He said awkwardly. Suguha turned around seemingly realizing now that there was another person in the vicinity.

'Oh hello I am Sug- I mean Leafa.' she said. Kirito cringed at that. She was almost ready to give her real name. He was lucky she didn't since no one had told her she had to. He was thankful for the initiative. There was an awkward silence after that. Kirito decided to break it.

'So back to you' He pointed at Klein. 'What did you want again?' That seemed to snap him out.

'Oh… Eh yes you see it is my first day playing the game and I saw you running around as if you knew the way around so I thought that maybe you could help me out. You are a beta-tester, aren't you?' He asked full of curiosity.

Kirito opened his mouth to answer but he didn't make it as his sister talked first.

'Yes he is. He was stuck in his room all month too.' She said grudgingly, earning some angry mumbling from Kirito.

'Wow so you really are one. Please, I need your help here. My friends and I are going to play a full dive game for the first time and I want to be able to help them. Can you please teach me the ropes?' He said almost begging.

'What did I do to deserve this? Whatever. The more the merrier I suppose.'

'Thank you very much. I promise I won't be a burden.' He said

'Alright then, so are we going?' Suguha cut in excitedly

'Yeah' They said both at the same time but Kirito with 1 millionth of the excitement Klein possessed.

**5 hours later**

Kirito watched as his "students" finally learnt to use sword skills. The difference was that although Leafa was just as much of an amateur as Klein was, her health bar was full because she used kendo that she knew from real life. Kirito wasn't even sure anymore if she _needed_ to learn the sword skills. Klein on the other hand not only was an amateur and had no talent or training for swordfighting whatsoever but he constantly got distracted by Suguha. The "why" was beyond Kirito but it still annoyed him. When Suguha passed his field of vision Kirito felt like he was talking to a wall.

His musings were stopped by the sound of glass shattering as the 30th wild boar they had been training on died. They were both mouth breathing and looked ready to collapse while next to Klein a window had opped up telling him he had gone up to level 2.

_That's good enough for day 1. And they are looking ready to drop dead anyway so..._

'Ok let's take a break!' He said

The panting duo replied a half hearted 'yes' before falling on their backs, mouth breathing.

Kirito just sat next to them enjoying the excellent weather and looking up to the sky.

After a while Klein lazily sat up and closed in on Kirito before whispering to his ear.

'Hey can you tell me what your sister is like?'

That made something in Kirito's mind click. Now it made sense. He _liked_ her. That's why he was nervous and distracted.

_Nope, not on my watch._

He took a deep breath, pulled back and head butted him on the nose. Klein fell back holding his nose, groaning.

'You feel no pain you big baby.' Kirito said but his tone implied that he would do something to him that would make him actually feel pain. Klein's eyes widened.

'Oh yeah you said something about that. No pain right? Neat!' He said suddenly relaxed completely forgetting the head butting and seemingly forgetting his question. Then he continued. 'So you are an elf right? How come there are elves and yet there is no magic.' Kirito shrugged

'Only Akihiko Kayaba knows.'

'Aki-who…' Klein asked

'Akihiko Kayaba the creator of the game. I don't know why he didn't include magic in the first place but the game is still awesome if you ask me. Although it is kind of unfair that certain mobs have magic and we don't but we can manage so no harm done.' He said leisurely, an impish smile on his face like he was enjoying an inside joke before continuing 'So you are human, right?'

'What? No, I chose to be a demon but there doesn't seem to be any change.' Klein said looking at his hands as if he waited for them to catch on fire.

Kirito put one hand on his mouth trying to cover the laughter but couldn't so he burst out laughing holding his ribs. When he loosened up a little Klein was looking annoyed

'What is so funny?'

'Oh... nothing, just… when you unlock the berserker skill in 5 levels... or so before you activate it... give me a call. I want to be there.' He said in between laughters. He would buy an echo crystal and record that. It would be comedy gold.

'Okaaaaay that is weird but whatever you say.' He said reluctantly.

'Hey Kirito.' Suguha, who by now had crept behind them and was listening intently, said

'Yes' He answered.

'Shouldn't we log out it is getting late.'

'Wait, how late?' Asked Klein.

'15:00' She said. Klein started shouting

'Oh shit. My pizza is was delivered and left.' He rashly opened the menu only to pale.

'Hey Kirito'

'Yeah.' He asked

'Where is the logout button?'

Kirito opened his own menu.

'What do you men it is right bellow the…' But he stopped since it wasn't there.

Suddenly they got teleported on the plaza of beginnings.

**LINE BREAK**

After Kayaba explained them everything and desappeared chaos ensued with everyone going through the first faze of psychological shock, denial. His company also falling into that category still looked up in the sky expecting a notification to say this was a joke. He looked at them both and the correct path of action quickly showed itself.

He grabbed Suguha's wrist and started pulling her behind him. That seemingly broke her out of her stupor so she fought back.

'Let me go. What are you doing. Klein is still in the plaza. We have to help him!' She shouted from behind him Kirito turned to her.

'We need to leave right now. I am still low level but I know where we must go! Now if something goes bad I can surely protect you but if I have to protect more than one person...' He trailed off allowing her to understand the unsaid. She crushed her euelids together, making tears escape the sides which she promptly whipped with the back of her hands.

'Why did this have to happen, Kazuto?' Asked in a sobbing voice Suguha. Kirito normally would cringe at the use of his real name nside the game but right now his brain was pre-occupied with planning the immediate future to care.

'I don't know Suguha. What I do know is that it did and that Kayaba isn't bluffing. Right now we have to survive. If you want us to get out of this game we have to survive and to survive we must leave. Come on.' And like this they ran, they got out of the town, they ran, they fought, they ran, never letting go of each other, they ran, never looking back.

**LINE BREAK**

After that they both became really powerful soon as one-time only events really pay off.

When first boss was found and both of them jumped at the oportunity since they were 2 of the strongest, if not the strongest, players there thanks to their headstart and Kirito's knowledge. They went to the first conference for the boss fight. There they took in Asuna into their party since she was alone and a two person party is hardly a party at all.

And then things went south.

The unofficial leader of their expedition tried to et the last hit bonus and as a result he died. But Kirito had tried to warn him he shouldn't rush in then so the rest assumed he kept information from them and blamed him for being a beta-tester. Kirito had enough of all of it. If they wanted to blame him they were free t but if he was to take unfair judgement he might as well take it all.

While Asuna and his sister tried to defend him something snapped inside him.

'HAHAHAHAHAHA' His laugh was cold. Devoid of emotion. It was so bone chilling. Everyone took one step away from him except his sister. When all the attention turned to him he slowly reduced that laugh but still kept a smug smile on his face. 'So you think I am a beta tester? How rude. I am nothing like those losers.'He said proudly but there was a hidden undertone that really drove the fear home, it was glee.

'What did you say?' Asked a voice from the crowd

'You heard me! Most of those noobs must have died by now like the useless players they were or are cowering in fear in the town of beginnings. Hell even you are better than them just because you are here while they are not.' He started slowly walking through the crowd towards the new gate to the next floor while the players split like the red sea in his passing as if he had the plague. 'But me? Don't make me laugh I am leagues superior than all of you combined. You wouldn't stand a chance against me.' He said and his heart turned cold at what he had to say next. His fists clenched but if anyone noticed they didn't show it. 'In fact... here' He said and pointed at his sister. All of his efforts focused on having his hand not shake. 'Have my sister, she was dragging me down anyway. She isn't as good as I am but she has grinded enough with me to be a mediocre asset to a team.' He said and he started shivering. The words he had just said burnt him inside. He felt his virtual stomach wanting to empty its contents but he toughed it out.

This was necessary.

He passed the group and now no one could see his face. His smile melted away leaving a face at the edge of uncontrolable crying but his voice still held infinite joy. 'So remember this next time you accuse someone of being a beta-tester. He probaby is even worse than you. Oh and one last thing...' He said before feeling a familiar embrace from his back.

'Shhhhh! It is enough now. You don't need to keep this act up anymore.' It was Suguha in her most soothing tone. Kirito was dumbfounded. He had left her behind and devalued her in front of everyone and she hugged him he was at a loss of words. 'Let's just go. This is enough.' She said in a way that Kirito felt he was talking to a person that just had lost someone. It wasn't far from the truth. Kirito had almost lost _her_.

'Suguha please. I have to do this alone. You don't have to bear this with me. It is my duty to protect you, not vice-versa.' He practically begged

'NO! You are always like this. You leave me behind and go become the scapegoat. I am your _sister_ and I am perfectly capable of protecting myself. Let me be with you!'

He was grateful beyond words that day. It was then that he allowed himself to become her brother again. All that guilt he felt for the jerk he was to her... he allowed himself to be forgiven. Just this once. Maybe he could start over. Over all this only one thing left his mouth

'Come on then. Let's see floor number 2!' He said and they both left.

**LINE BREAK**

After that the discrimination against Beta-Testers all but disappeared and racial discrimination took over. Human nature never changed. They always needed a minority to blame to blow off some steam.

Kirito and Leafa had already been subjugated to racism due to their racial stats as people seemed to conveniently forget that in reality they were normal humans. but that all got reinforced when all the people that hated Bets started hating non-humans instead. They had been laughed at for their ears and called psychos because they didn't choose the human class. What was wrong with everyone? Did they forget that when the race selection happened this was all just a game? Did they forget that in reality they too were 100% normal humans? Was it so important that they had pointy ears inside the virtual world? Kirito felt infinite disgust because of this. But it all peaked off when Suguha came back an orange player from her grinding.

Kirito had a very full week of grinding and he just couldn't bring himself to wake up that morning so he slept this one out. When he woke uphe got out of bed and went to the kitchen to see that his sister had made a sandwich for him. With a smile he started eating while picking from his inventory the weekly newspaper that automaticly got transfered to his inventory every week. He was reading when the door opened to reveal Suguha

She was as pale as a ghost, her hands hang limply to her sides and her eyes were blank but all of that was seen by Kirito through his peripheral vision since his gaze was centered in her cursor. It was orange. She had hurt a player.

Kirito jumped from his seat and went to her.

'Who attacked you?' He asked. Suguha would have never attacked anyone was it not for them attacking first. It was just the kind of person she was and even then she wouldn't go past threatening. Yet the cursor said otherwise.

She didn't answer.

'Suguha please tell me. Who attacked you?' He said in a pleading tone. The possibility of her death heavying his shoulders making them go slack.

'It's nothing. Just leave it be.' She said in a low voice. Kirito regained some of his strength turning serious.

'Suguha tell me, who _hurt you?_ ' Asked Kirito a bit aggravated

'No one hurt me. They never had the chance. It was only me hurting them.' She said lowering her voice after each phraze. Kirito stood there over her choosing his words very carefully.

'Who forced you to hurt them?' He asked finally

'It was two random guys. They found me in the forest whie I was grinding claiming it was their hunting zone. They said they didn't want to breath the same air as a filthy inhuman.' Her voice got rougher as if she was trying to push down her crying. 'They said that they would allow me to hunt there if I did them some _favors.'_ She said, her tone getting so disqusted Kirito didn't even have to ask what kind of favors. 'I said I would leave but they didn't accept it. One of them grbbed my hand and I punched him.' She paused 'They drew their swords and...'

'What were their names?' Kirito interupted her. He was ice cold. His brotherly affection completely lost.

'It doesn't matter. They are dead.' She said just as coldly. Kirito's eyes widened

'Suguha... you didn't...'

'No I didn't but I might as well have. After I got them scared I ran but I heard their screams behind me before a roar and glass shattering. Brother, I-I killed them.' She said

'NO YOU DIDN'T!' He shouted abruptly. He felt powerless. He felt that whatever he may say won't be enough. He felt she would loath herself. And he wouldn't allow it. 'They attacked you first. It was self defence.' He said.

'Brother, are you angry?' She asked and then Kirito understood. It wasn't other people she feared. It was him. His judgement. His opinion. That made him see red.

'Only at the dead men.' He said and a reluctant smile crossed Suguha's face. The rest of the day was passed inside their home with Kirito helping her get over the shock.

But he never forgot and months later he would still remember.

**Line Break**

It was them against the world for some time. But that kind of life couldn't continue forever.

They joined the moonlight cats. A lower guild of inhumans with whom they spent a mnth. But then they got trapped in a no teleportation ambush by the game. They fought and struggled to protect everyone intheir party but just one person died. Sachi. But she was under his wing and everyone blamed him. He was kicked out of the guild while his sister followed making him once again feel guilt for making her bear this with him.

After that had fallen in depression and didn't allow himself to be approached. He had spent the last days grinding. His sister was with him but he never talked to her. Not until this night. This night he had gone off to fight the christmas special boss in secret in order to get the rare reviving item. He won but his life was on 1% when Suguha found him.

He was lying back on a tree after having read the description silent, broken and depressed. His last hope gone. And now Suguha was standing above him, looking furious.

'Why?' She asked.

'...' He stayed silent. Not even raising his eyes to her.

'Why did you leave alone into the night, _without me_ to fight a boss battle _alone_?' She asked. 'Have I still not done enough to earn your trust? Why are you doing this to me all over again? I thought we had gone past this. All these months we were perfectly fine. Don't shut me out again. PLEASE. It is killing me.'

Kirito didn't know what to say. He trully had done it again. He had shut her out again. All these feelings he had been building up. His guilt, his sadness, his longing for forgiveness came together and forged just one phraze.

'I am sorry.' He said

'For what?'She asked harshly

'For everything. I am sorry for being an awful brother. I am sorry for shutting you out. I am sorry for loading on you all of our grandfather's expectations but most of all I am sorry for not acknowledging you as my sister.' He said. She looked shocked

'What do you mean not acknowledging me as your sister?' She asked

'I mean that... Suguha... you are not my sister. You are my cousin.' At that she fell to her knees in front of him.

'So that's what this all has been about. That's why you avoided me.' She laughed weakly and sadly 'It wasn't because of what I did! It was because of what I was!' She started crying.

'Suguha... I am really sorry.' He said. He really couldn't find anything else to say.

'And you should be.'

'I promise if I could take it all back I would but...' He was cut off

'But you can't! You can't take the tormoil I felt all these years and make it disappear.' She said her tone though was growing softer. She slowly fell on him, resting her chin on his chest. She stayed like that for a bit, Kirito feeling her breath on his neck, warming him up, before the winter air froze him again. He didn't move an inch. He had no idea what to do in such situations and right now he just wanted to hold his "sister".

'Kirito I give you a second chance.' She stated, breaking him out of his thoughts 'On one condition. Be my brother. Not my friend. Not my protector. My brother. Never shut me off again! Do you promise?'

'I do!' He said rashly

'Then we are fine.' She said and graced him with a smile that melted all the walls in his heart in one go. He rested his head on her shoulder.

'Thank you. Thank you so much.' He said while sobbing.

'Shhhhh let it all out. Tomorrow will be a new day.' She said in a soothing tone. Kirito just this once allowed himself to be weak. He started crying on her shoulder.

**Flashback End**

When they ran out of special events that they could take on as a duet so they could get special loot they joined a guild called moonlight cats, buuuuut that's a painful story so let's skip to the part where they run away and Klein invited them to his guild. Klein by then had created his own guild, samurai style.

There was a large argument over the name and style as Kirito didn't want to cosplay as a samurai and Katanas didn't fit his style of playing. And then Suguha had the _wonderful_ idea of creating a new guild inside which the Fuurikanzan would be a special sector that was autonomous yet a part of the bigger guild.

Kirito couldn't believe his ears. His sister wanted him to not only be a co-founder to a guild but the _official leader_. He couldn't believe it! He argued, and fought and dueled but in the end he just had to give up to his little sister's demands.

The guild was named The Ambassadors of Light and Darkness from the dressing choices of the two co-guild leaders. Kirito always wore black and Leafa always wore white.

The whole guild thing went… actually it went perfectly fine because Kirito and Suguha were two of the most powerful players around as all those special events really buffed them up. Also Kirito was one of the very few remaining beta testers as the rest were either too spineless about playing a game with real life death at risk so they tried to help with information which got them silenced from other beta testers who wanted the loot for themselves or where too cocky because of their knowledge and went to dungeon after dungeon without being properly prepared and just died in battle. Thus Kirito was one of a very small group.

After what had happened to Suguha Kirito found a way to exact his vengeance by not allowing any "humans" inside the guild. So he convinced Klein to make it so. There were a few problems for example Kirito wasn't so good with words speeches or social status in general let alone a guild leader but weak dogs form packs with the strong at the center so the guild grew in size in no time at all. They reached one hundred members in a month and the number only grew from there.

There was another feature that existed in this world that wasn't in the beta version and that was the creation of guardian NPCs for the guild from each and every player which NPC would have 80% the creator's stats and the character and appearance they were given by their creators. It still remains a mystery whatsoever about what kind of software allowed such perfect execution of their characters as if they were alive. It was as if they gained two members per guilds founding members were Kirito, Leafa and Klein with the actual guild leader being Kirito but with Leafa pulling the strings from the sidelines in order to not get targeted and Klein being the one that mingled with the army bringing possible problems to light in order for Kirito and Leafa to resolve them before they escalated. In short Kirito was the inspiring symbol, Leafa was the tactician and Klein was the internal spy as well as the leader of the guilds elite unit, the Fuurinkazan (comprised from his friends from before the game. They were the guilds team for reckon missions as well as the spearhead for possible expeditions).

Also Kirito never realy felt as the leader. He always relied on Suguha for the most important decisions and he only trully cared about her too. He would sacrifice his life for each and every one of his guild but Suguha was the highest priority. His responsibility. His way of repenting for all the years he spent avoiding her and being a jerk. He was so grateful to her for forgiving him.

But tragedy didn't take too long to strike. When humans fear too much their fear ends up becoming hatred and when humans are filled with hatred for too long their hatred turns into insanity and insanity can change the world. Insanity gave birth to the red players. In SAO when players hurt other players their name gets stained with the color orange but if they break the taboo and PK (player kill) their name gets bloody red. Usually red players appeared alone in separate events and they were dealt with quickly. But a month ago a new evil started luring in the darkness, it was the red guild called laughing coffin with Poh as its leader. Kirito tried to gather up other guilds in order to fight back. He was lucky as the other guilds had a graveyard worth of bones to pick with laughing coffin. He was thinking of gathering up the forces before attacking and when they were ready to unleash a full blown attack they would go but things almost never turn up the way you want them to and… and… and Suguha was murdered. Killed off by the numbers of laughing coffin. She was negociating with some of the smaller guilds about their support and on the way back just when she got out of the safe zone was ambushed by more than 20 cowards. Their first hit was a paralyzing dagger on her back and then they unleashed a barrage of their most powerful attacks on her. She never had a chance.

He was trying to calm down, he was seriously trying but the thought of Suguha, his comrade, his fellow guild founder, his _sister_ dying hopelessly from an ambush was too infuriating so he stood still on the throne having left everything up to the secondary circle of leadership.

Ironically the secondary cycle of leadership didn't comprise of a single person from the initial group, save for Klein.

It had Agil, an honorable merchant dwarf that helped the duet at tough times with a loan. He was short, tanned, bald and had a goatee.

Lizbeth, an elf, Kirito's ex-personal blacksmith who lost her former guild to a laughing coffin attack when they were collecting materials. She looked just like her human form just with pointy ears

Silica a druid that he had helped once and couldn't seem to get off his back from there on out. She was a tamer and had brown hair and a light green skin.

Argo an information broker cat humanoid who seemed all about business while in reality she was just a teasing sweetheart (that showed after way too much time in the guild). She was a bit short, with whiskers cat ears and tail.

And lastly Klein the Demon amateur he had trained. Normally he didn't change at all but when in battle his berserker form was monstrous… let's leave it at that.

All of them were powerful enough to begin with (except Silica) but after a few high level expeditions together with Kirito when he was "carrying" them they became pretty damn powerful. Having said that they were also extremely useful on their own sectors. Agil as a treasurer, Argo as an information broker, Lizbeth as a blacksmith and Silica as a mascot to raise morale (morale can get really low at times when a team goes out on a raid and very few or no one comes back).

But the changes didn't stop only at their levels. After running a guild for 3 months you feel the burden of its responsibilities. Because of that they had all become both less impulsive and more logical. They needed to inspire and that is what they did.

His guild had 2 main sectors. The light spell and the dark spell. The light spell dressed in golden or white colors while the dark spell ranged from midnight blue to pitch black. The light spell consisted of the supports and the people that werent meant to go to the front lines. Silica was there in charge of the tamers. The tamers needed special training to be in contact with their familiar. Not to mention they were the only kind of healers they had so they got their own part. Agil was also there responsible for the trades and funding of the guilds equipment. Lizbeth was in charge of the blacksmiths in order to create the equipment they needed. And Suguha oversaw them all. she was in charge of the sector that kept the guild at home when they were eating and resting and trying to find the courage to keep up the fight. Sure Kirito was more respected as he saved their lives more obviously on the battlefield but many people saw her as that one person who was holy and should never be touched and then when she died everyone saw the darkness of the world she hid behind her back through her shinning aura. With all this the guild didn't need any outsider interaction before. Now a dark aura had befallen his guild. It was very harsh on everyone.

That doesn't mean that the dark spell wasn't successful. Klein was the leader of the main army unit and Argo was the leader of the stealth assassins and information brokers. If you believe that for any reason stealth shouldn;t be in the front lines you have, obviously not fought against one of them. They will go invisible and unhearable and cut your throat in seconds. Overseeing the black spell was Kirito.

Unbeknownst to them both they had come to be known as the Light Queen and the Darkness King but this is something to be mentioned again when Kirito gains knowledge of this.

And this is how 2 days passed. Waiting, passing every second, thinking about the revenge he would exact revenge to the fullest.

If not for the rhythmic movements of his shoulders due to his breath one would think he was dead. At the second half of the third day he opened his menu and went to communication. He called Klein and Azor.

The windows that signified the communications opened and Kirito spoke.

'Klein is everything ready?' He said grimly

'Everything is ready to go. If you finally give the order.' He answered with just as much grief but with impatience too.

'Come then. It is finally time!'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know I overdid it a bit with the exposition and the fast forwards but the world I introduce has some very important diferences that I needed to get out of the way immediatly... and some minor ones that I really didnt want to do through exposition so I prefered to delay it a bit, sorry. Dont worry it gets way better down the road. Just give it 2 chapters. And I promise, the 2 flashbacks were the only things I will rewrite from cannon. I know how it feels to read things you already know and I would never do that. From now on you are in deep in this new world where I am the god *Evil Laugh*.So review and tell me if there are any plot holes or if I should be ashamed of the mutilation I caused to one of our favorite Animes (Good hearted revews are good too ofcourse). And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero
> 
> P.S. Kirito will be slightly OOC because he didn't spend one year fully solo so he won't be as socially awkward and he will be a bit cold since he is being eaten up more and more by the need for revenge. That last part affects other characters as well. Also this will have a fairly slow build that ends on chapter 9. Thanks for the understanding!


	2. Debriefings and Traps

**Debriefings and Traps**

**Kirito POV**

Azor was Kirito's NPC. His creation. Everything from his character, to his body type, to his voice tone, to his dressing taste was created by him. It had taken him a week to customize but the end result was so worth it. About 1.8m tall, Azor is a Vampire with dark skin, and nicely combed black hair (Kirito liked the irony of a dark skinned vampire). He sports round glasses and a British suit with a tie; he is dressed like a gentleman. As he was to be the Commander of the NPC Defenses, he had a high level of intelligence and strategic thinking. Kirito was very proud of his creation.

He waited for a bit and then saw the glittering indigo solidus smoke appearing that signified the ingame teleportation which slowly started taking shape and having mass.

In the end in front of him stood Klein and Azor. Azor with his characteristic red suit and glasses and Klein with his samurai katana and (Now black) armor. Although Klein still wore his red bandana as a distinction of the elite group. Azor bowed down, on one knee, looking down. Klein on the other hand just stood there arms crossed, giving an impatient, over-his-shoulder gaze to Kirito. Azor spoke.

'For what do you ask me here lord Kirito?' He said with religious respectfulness

'Raise your head Azor. Klein good to see you around.' Azor rose from his bowing position and Klein turned 90 degrees, looking at him directly in the eyes now. Kirito returned the stare.

'Yeah well I am still waiting for that attack order you know! Leafa was my friend too.'

'Soon my friend, soon.' At this he returned his gaze to Azor who was still not looking him in the eyes. (Maybe he should have loosened up at the formality and respectfulness on the customization menu) 'Azor how many forces have we gathered.' Azor started speaking in a flat tone, mentioning the facts alone.

'The forces are still gathering but at the moment the numbers, on the road, are more or less like this: The knights of the blood oath have sent 400 players. Their leader Heathcliff shall arrive in time as he has some business to attend to'

'Not surprising. He does have the second most powerful guild in Aincrad after all.' A grin spread on his face at the unspoken fact that his was the first. It quickly subsided for formality's sake.

'Moonlight cats have also sent their five generals and 200 players. I do believe you are familiar with them' Said Azor as emotionlessly as he could but you could still feel his hesitation at the mention of the guild.

'Yes, I was once a part of their guild when it was still small but we were ambushed by monsters and one of our party members that was supposed to be under my protection died. She was our only casualty but I was blamed for it and kicked out of the guild.'

'A sad turn of events indeed' said Azor 'shall I continue?'

Kirito gaped for a second reminiscing his old mistakes then sighed and answered half heartedly

'Yes, there is no point in dwelling in the past'

'The Aincrad Liberation Force sends the largest amount of soldiers. About 600 players together with a young and very talented captain of theirs called Asuna.'

Kirito seemed distracted for a bit on the mention of the name, it seemed familiar but he didn't have the time or mental clarity to dwell on it any further. Azor continued

'Also Slane Theocracy is sending...' Azor tried to continue but was interrupted by a shocked Klein

'Slane Theocracy? But they hate inhuman classes, which makes our guild their prime hatred target'

'Yes they do but they see the privilege of this alliance. They send 500 players and their leader Pontifex Maximus. It would seem that they see the merit of the alliance.' Azor said almost excited.

'I really don't trust them Azor. I have been betrayed by their members before. We have been sweet talked to before by them. And their leader is the worst of them all. A pompous, self-righteous stubborn fanatic. He is seemingly always orange due to what he does to non-human classes.' Kirito said in a rougher tone than he intended. Klein made a grimace which brought Kirito back to earth. Kirito's speech softened a bit and he sighed continuing. 'But... I don't feel like we have much of a choice. We don't have the privilege of turning down support.' He said resigningly at the last sentence. Azor continued as he knew that further inquiring on the matter would only make things worse

'The smaller guilds together have sent us a grand total of 1300 players and…'

Kirito's eyes were taken away for a second and his gaze was so disturbing Azor froze. Klein spoke with some anxiety

'Hey Kirito is something wrong?' Klein asked a bit frustrated at his friend about his absentmindedness at such an important moment but he was also hesitant as he seemed to be thinking something important

'Oh no' he said quickly as if in a rush 'it is nothing anyway we are attacking now, go give the order'

He said that like he was ordering a beer which was all the more terrifying thinking that in this battle more than 3000 people would put their live at risk to stop the killing. Klein was the first to break the silence

'Hey Kirito, what are you saying troops are still coming you can't possibly be thinking of starting the war before they all assemble!' He said in a slightly feared and slightly angry and very shocked voice.

Kirito stood up and his expression had something that felt savage about it. Bloodlust maybe… like he was holding something back. Klein took a step forward and started speaking.

'HEY KIRITO'

Azor grabbed Klein's shoulder and said

'Yes sir, we are going right now' and with a bow he turned around and started walking away still dragging Klein behind him

Klein unwillingly gave up and started heading towards the conference room.

**Klein POV**

Klein wasn't feeling good. In fact he felt like throwing up. He had seen people around him die before but Leafa was a hit too close to home. That sweet hearted beauty was one of his closest friends.

He had a crush on her since floor 1, much to the dismay of Kirito, and he wanted the heads of those that killed her in a silver platter as soon as possible. Now having said that he still could think straight enough to know one thing. Attacking with half your army assembled is stupid at best and suicidal at worst. So WHAT WAS GOING ON?

After they had gone far enough Klein couldn't hold back and grabbed Azor, who was walking in front of him, by the shoulder tightly. After Azor stopped walking Klein spoke.

'Why did you hold me back there?' He asked both angry and curious

'There was something in Master's eyes… there is something he isn't telling us and he isn't the person to do that without an extremely important reason. Please forgive my insolence master Klein and I will accept any punishment that befalls me but please, right now, allow us to just go towards the conference room.' his voice a little more than a whisper in Klein's ears. He seemed afraid and was probably way out of his comfort zone to abruptly stop one of the "creators". Klein felt sorry for the NPC's fear and decided to let it go. After all there was reason in what he had said.

Klein thought about it for a bit before snorting an unwilling 'Okay'

Right when they were about to start walking again a third set of footsteps.

They turned around only to see Kirito.

'Hey Kirito what are you…' Kirito started but was thrown off by the diferences.

He couldn't really understand what it was but there was something off about him. His moves were awkward; his eyes were avoiding direct eye contact his face showed something gleeful yet angry at the same time. He took a deep breath and started saying

'You mother fuckers, you think that you could start a war with laughing coffin and come out on top? Don't make me laugh!'

He drew his eludicator and took fighting stance, not his though this one was more like an animal's stance than a human's.

'Lord Kirito what are you...'

'Shut up you sorry excuse of an NPC. Stay still and DIE!'

As he finished his sentence the being that seemed like Kirito lunged forward, black obsidian blade of Eludicator extended with only a single thought no doubt passing through its mind, impale the two of them. But even this simple movement of a lunge stab was, in terms of speed, nothing compared to the original; it almost seemed like it was crawling at a snail's pace instead. However even with that slow speed, and without a second blade drawn by this thing, it was still enough to keep Klein backpedalling like a child who had just found a rabid dog. Azor, on the other hand, stood rock still like as if he had been paralysed and now could move no virtual muscle. The black blade descended towards the frozen NPC's neck like a lion waiting to taste blood.

'KIRITO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!' Klein shouted, his voice laced with the aftershock of surprise, and thick with confusion. The demon raced man then noticed that Azor hadn't even transformed into his battle mode; he was simply standing there defenceless like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck in the midst of night.

Klein leaped in front of the shock frozen NPC, growling something about stupid programming, his katana whirling out in a flash of silvery steel that parried against the jet black blade. The sudden bold action caused Kirito to take a step back, having been shocked that they weren't frozen in their positions with surprise and fear. Klein took advantage of that, his face set into a grim line as he whirled towards the left. His katana came down in a silver blur that slammed into the black blade, using the kinetic force the samurai wannabe spun around and slashed horizontally upwards to the right, starting from his lower left hip in an arc that would have easily slashed through anyone else. Once more the attack caused Kirito to jump back, taking a giant backward leap as he tried to put distance between itself and the dangerous warrior before it; Azor still standing oddly paralysed behind the gruff man.

His mind raced, uncertainty after uncertainty racing through his mind like a horse race, kicking up a dust cloud of confusion as it swirled within his thoughts like a sandstorm. Klein was in a serious predicament, he knew that he couldn't hold off Kirito forever without hurting his friend, and he didn't dare hurt Kirito no matter how much he seemed to be intent on killing him; he couldn't lose another friend, not after losing Leafa. The man with the red bandana around his head took a deep breath before speaking to Azor out of the corner of his mouth just as Kirito lunged at him once more, their blades meeting and sparking like metal meeting whetstone. The two blades flashed like black darkness meeting the silvery light of the moon, a justified juxtaposition.

'Azor! Go bring reinforcements RIGHT NOW!' Klein called out to the NPC in hopes of finding a way out of the situation. Azor did not respond and a malicious sadistic smile slowly spread across the face of Kirito like the smile of a demon straight from the depths of hell. Which was ironic considering Klein was supposed to be the demonic one.

'Can't handle me alone?' Kirito asked sarcastically as the ever present grin started to spread even more, reaching from ear to ear till it looked like something straight out of a horror movie, 'I'm going to love slicing you limb from limb.' He said with a slight slurp along his lips, as though he was staring at a deliciously looking meal and not his friend. Klein tried; he really did try, to keep a stern face. But even the hardiest façade cracked under such an action from his supposed best friend, and fear seeped through it like smoke out from underneath a door crack. However the fear was not for himself but rather for being forced to hurt his friend. Of course Kirito thought it was a fearful look of him and thus with newfound passion started advancing with each step being accompanied with a heavy handed blow of his black blade, each swing becoming faster and stronger than the last.

Fatigue started to settle upon Klein. He hadn't been sleeping well and the constant parrying was consuming a lot of power, strength and stamina out from his already depleted reserves. He couldn't attack in horror of striking his own friend, and couldn't block out of fear of shattering his blade as katana's were an agility type weapon, meant for swerving around the opponent, carving into them like a brush swirls upon a paper. Azor still hadn't moved an inch since the battle started; he was currently a liability that frustrated the losing samurai, pain arching through his arm muscles as they started to feel heavier and heavier, short breaths turning into pants as he tried to keep up. Out of the corner of his eye an acid bomb came flying towards Klein, being locked in a blade lock he knew there was no hope of dodging it. Instead he flicked his wrist, knocking the black blade up into the air before slashing horizontally, catching the approaching object straight in the middle with a superb act of hand to eye coordination.

For future references this would be remembered as one of his stupidest times throughout the entire death game and was one experience he was not going to rush to repeat.

The acid, propelled by the explosion, danced around his sword burning his arms and edge torso. He only managed to cover the center torso and head that were critical hits. The bomb was strong and painful although there was a pain inhibitor in SAO. He gritted his teeth and barely held in a cry. Kirito took this chance and went in for a beheading with a sideways slash. Klein started raising his katana to block but he didn't have enough time or speed. His muscles felt heavy... he wouldn't make it.

'NO.' He said inside his mind. 'This game won't take my life'

He knew there was only one way he could be saved and it would hurt. He continued raising his hand but he let go of the katana to have more speed. Kirito's sword started cutting though his wrist but stopped when it reached the bone stopping mid-way. Klein screamed at the intensity of the pain at least he was alive... For just a bit more...

Kirito left his sword stuck on Klein's wrist and equipped dark repulser. He raised it above his head and started lowering it to split Klein's head in two. Azor was too far away to help but at that moment Kirito stopped mid swing. His eyes widened and started screaming in agony while he was steaming out of every pore of his skin. He then started melting first the hair leaving him bald then the skin in the end muscles and bones melted and he turned into a paddle.

Klein stood still, his ran-through arm hanging, waiting for a way to sort out what happened while his stomach demanded to empty its innards. Fortunately an explanation came to him soon enough. From behind the column where the bomb came from another Kirito more up to the normal standards came out. He had his sword a millimeter away from a man's throat. From the equipment of the man one could understand he was a tamer. Azor drew out all the calmness that he could muster (which wasn't much) and asked shakingly

'L-Lord K-Kirito you haven't melted' he statered

'Yeah sorry for that I just had to make sure this guy didn't get a chance to escape. At the throne room I noticed that there was someone camouflaged on the wall. I told you to leave so I could deal with him alone but when you left I couldn't see him anymore so I guessed he went after you, I was right, so when I saw you fighting me I waited for a way to exact his location. He got anxious when he saw my clone couldn't win so he tried lending him a hand. Ironically that was the reason he lost.' He said in an apologising manner

He turned his sights to Klein

'Klein, are you okay' He asked in a caring, a tad guilty tone

Klein feeling relieved said half-jokingly

'I'll live but what was that thing?'

'It was a mimic. A very rare summoning that can look like any player for a short amount of time but I will explain later. Now, Azor get this to Silica's room to interrogate him' Kirito said throwing the paralyzed enemy to the ground in front of Azor's feet.

'But my lord he will not survive for enough time to say anything in Silica's hands right now. She has been driven insane by Leafa's death.'

Kirito's face showed a cold, animalistic pleasure. He turned and said

'I-am-counting-on-it' he said emphasizing every word on a very deadly tone

Kirito turned to Klein once more

'Klein use a healing crystal to ease the pain and fix your arm. Then go to the conference room and inform them of the events, also tell them that laughing coffin has readied a trap for slane theocracy's troops and is about to assassinate the five generals of the moonlight cat's guild. I want reinforcements to be sent out immediately, take the Fuurinkazan. That is all.'

'B-But how do you know that?' Klein whimpered at the importance of the new information while Azor lifted the body of the paralyzed tamer and ran-off to fulfill his task as he knew that there was no time for explanations. Kirito just looked at him with a mix of some emotions. It was guilt. Klein could see he was feeling guilty for something.

'Klein I am sorry, it is my fault that you have that wound.' He said turning his gaze to the ground and lifting his hand to point to the direction Azor left. 'That scumbag wasn't alone. There was another person with him. He left the moment this monster' He showed the liquid paddle with a face of disgust. 'Melted. I didn't help you immediately because they were conversing their plan while this thing was attacking you. They thought you were a sure kill. When I heard you scream I gave up the try to get Intel and knocked out the tamer. The rest you know. I-I am sorry.' He said

Klein tried to be angry but couldn't. Yes, he may have risked his life but with this Intel they would save so many more lives. He was even feeling proud to have helped with this plan. A small lopsided smile crept on his face.

'It's okay just next time; find a way to give me a heads up.' He said

Kirito's face first showed shock and then relief. Then he took a stern, official look.

'Now go to your post quickly. We are at war and there are lives at stake. Quickly' He said. The sudden change startled Klein who started running to his post.

Kirito was left alone at the hall. He took a deep breath and released together with the pressure. He then walked calmly with a face of deep concentration back to his throne. He climbed the steps leading up to it, sat down and waited.

'The first move was yours but we will get the checkmate' He declared. 'Let the war begin!'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I tried to show how was Klein feeling and aleviate the boredom from last chapters exposition with that short battle scene. Review and tell me how did I do please. By the way, yes I know Asuna is in the wrong guild. It is intentional because I want her, Kirito, Heathcliff and Pontifex Maximus to have an Ideological stand off later on. To do that they need to have equal footing of power so yeah.And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	3. Siege and Rescue

 

**Siege and Rescue**

**Asuna POV**

Asuna was sitting inside the carriage a bit less than collected. She was biting her nails and moving erratically inside a fairly small space which didn't help the situation. She had way too many things to analyze and think about and it wasn't easy at all. Not even prioritizing was easy. She could at least make a list. First and foremost tactics for the war to come, although she didn't know exact numbers, strengths and weaknesses she had a vague idea about both what they were dealing with and their own army. Their victory was more than certain the problem was the casualties. These men weren't soldiers and wouldn't accept the possibility of dying as collateral damage acceptable.

Second was her own fame and image. She was undoubtedly strong and thus as always rumors had been sprouting like wildfire. The Flash, a title she had gotten through way too much to gain to lose it in a flash because of war. **(A/N: Pun completely intended)** Her men had to get out of this alive no matter what the cost.

Last but certainly not least was Kirito. She had known him for barely a day and yet he had that special aura that made her want to be by his side forever. Certainly the fact that he was the very first person that approached her in a friendly way in this wretched game helped. Also he was hellish on the battlefield. To top it all off, he was selfless, maybe too selfless. Like he took the hatred against all the beta-testers on him. Come on! Now she couldn't be in a one floor distance from him if she didn't want his fame rubbing off on her.

She was trying to suppress this as it wasn't an urgent matter but she didn't really have a good enough emotional control to block out that he would meet him again for the first time after a year. She wanted to be at her absolute best but then again she had to keep a rough enough look for a general that is about to go into battle. Her moves had started to trouble Aika who was in the carriage with her sent to be by her side should the need for battle, a decoy or a formal dresser arise.

'Mrs. Asuna is everything alright.' Said Aika in a flat voice.

Asuna made eye contact with her recent underling just to locate the tiniest specs of worry in her eyes in an otherwise cold and serious face.

'I am relatively fine Yuri just... a lot to think about' Said Asuna directing her eyes elsewhere. The maiden's cold emotionless gaze was really unnerving.

She didn't know a lot about the maiden but she had been programmed by her creator, whoever that was, to have an elegant, high class attitude. Aika was a beauty with an inteligent look wearing glasses and a wide blue necklace. Her hair were tied into a low-cropped bun at the back of her head. She had been assigned to Asuna for half a month now to show her how to behave in a way that would be found respectable and inspiring. Asuna appreciated the teachings and her teacher but she bet that her teacher couldn't act what she taught if her life depended on it. Although she has been a bit cold lately, correction colder than usual. But maybe it was just her stress playing tricks on her.

With that Yuri returned to silence. She rested her face on her fist and turned her eyes to the window as the green forests turned to bushes and they entered the last valley before the valley in which the mighty castle of Ambassadors of Light and Darkness was in. The sky was blue and relaxing but there were some storm clouds on the edge of the horizon. There was a vast forest ahead of them. It was a beautiful forest with beautiful colors and tall trees. But it was too dense for her own liking. It made her feel uneasy.

.

.

.

Something moved in her field of vision and then it suddenly stopped. Then something else, and something else. Before she knew it the whole green scenery was moving like a huge green carpet made of moving bugs. She knew in her gut what this was. Her breath got caught up her heart skipped a bit. As fast as she could she jumped on her sit, poked her head outside through the driver's window and then she took a deep breath and shouted.

'WE ARE BEING AMBUSHED' she shouted as loudly as humanly possible

The rain of Flame Bombs and daggers lit up the sky like fireworks, trails of black smoke following the blazing amber colours that descended from the heavens like the arrows of wrath. Within seconds the wagons were turned into flaming porcupines, she quickly withdrew her head into the carriage, her hands tightening like vice over the handle of her rapier. In front of her the driver stagger, five arrows sticking out from various points of his body as flames licked along the artificial skin like hungry demons. He slid off his seat, exploding into blue polygons of shining pixels as Asuna quickly covered up the window. A quick flick of her finger caused an open screen to appear before her, fingers that were now long use to typing in mid air scribed a message to all other party leaders, telling them to immediately form a circle with the carriages, a barricade against the unceasing rain of fiery death that descended upon them like meteorites falling from space. At least luck was on their side for this, with enough carriages they formed a barricade that covered them and gave them adequate spacing. Asuna kicked open the door to her carriage, landing nimbly on her feet as her white and crimson outfit flared in the breeze, her voice carrying loudly and confidently as she commanded orders to be obeyed and carried out.

'I want shields above us and item repairs for all the carriages. All the circulate healing potions and all the archers fight back half covered, if you run low on hp lay low until you fill. Knights stay with me and be ready to charge. Yuri is my second in command any order given by her is to be treated like it was given by me.' she said in one breath.

As they were sorting themselves out into groups Asuna was thinking about the best way to deal with this. What could she do against such firepower to make the biggest amount of people stay alive? Her head was ringing. Wait ringing… no that wasn't her head. That was the communication notification. She looked up and there it was saying a plain **Klein**. Asuna thought about it. She had met a person named Klein once. The first boss raid. Wow that was nostalgic. She shook her head.

'Focus Asuna you are getting distracted'. She told to herself.

She pressed the accept icon. Immediately she heard a voice.

'Asuna are you there.' said a worried voice

'Yes who are you?' Said Asuna in a cocky attitude

'I am Klein.' Said Klein in a 'duh' voice. This guy was really pissing her off.

'No shit genius I meant why are you calling me it isn't like I know you or anything.'

'Yeah well I thought it would be a good idea since well your life is in danger' said Klein with enough irony to drown her. Needless to say Asuna had already reached a point where her eye twitched.

'Oh reaaaaaaaaally what gave it away? Could it be the explosions sounding in the background?'

'Eeeeeeehm sorry I didn't notice that.' He said in an awkward voice but that left as soon as it came giving way to distress. 'Anyway, listen to me reinforcements are coming. 6 players 84 level. What are the levels and numbers of the forces?'

How should she know it isn't like she could see them or they were in open ground. But wait the bombs they were too weak to be high levels, otherwise the carriages would have been blown to smithereens, so they were level 50-60 but they were too many and that's where the problem lied. She focused and counted them. There were about 20 bombs per minute so they should be about a hundred of them as there should be some warriors with them too. Well it was a speculation but she took the worst case scenario so she wouldn't be leading them to anything they didn't know about.

'Klein there must be about a hundred or so. Mediocre levels about 55.' she almost shouted

She was certain that she could hear him smile through the communication.

'Ok stand firm. We will be there in ten minutes can you buy as that much time?' asked Klein

Asuna thought about it there were 600 people under her command less than 50 people with classes that enabled healing skills. After all healers are a fairly unpopular class in MMOs. But they were high levels. 70 to 75.

'We can after all we are headed into war aren't we if we can't fend off these ones we are done for.'

'Ok, we are coming' with that the connection as well the window shut down

Asuna stood up and shouted.

'ALL OF YOU. REINFORCEMENTS ARE COMING STAND STRONG.' She said in one breath

She got inside a carriage on the circle to watch the enemy movements from the windows on the other side and she waited. After 8 minutes she got a call. She answered

'We are here, are you okay?' asked Klein's voice

'Yeah just hurry.' answered Asuna back

'Ok listen we will attack them from the opposite side you are on. We are high levels so they will certainly run I want you to block them.'

'Understood'

She got out of the carriage.

'TAKE COVER! RECOVER COOLDOWN TIMES AND WAIT MY MARK. MELEES COME BEHIND ME AND ON MY MARK CHARGE. SHIELD BEARIERS PROTECT THE HEALER'

All did as they were told. About 600 people stood behind her in formation. She waited for the cool down of the spells. The only thing that could be heard was their breaths and the explosions on the carriages they were facing. One minute passed. Two minutes. Three minutes. And pause

'NOW'

They charged. 600 hundred soldiers rushing up the hill of death, fearful but obliged by duty to rush forward like expandable chess pawns. No matter their insignificance as a multitude they were still a force to be reckoned with, Asuna herself was leading the charge, arms carried out behind her as her rapier was held loosely within her right hand. With her agility stats she rushed forward, well deserving of her title as 'The Flash', streaks of her actions seen flowing out behind her as she rushed forward with narrowed eyes and concentration circling her face. But then something was not right to her, something was amiss. Where was the resistance? The flaming arrows, bombs and knives that should be flying past her face, whizzing like the sting of bees through the air in their angry hive clusters. Where were the explosions that would throw the soldiers into the air like rag dolls before a giant? As she was the fastest she was the first to clear the ridge of the hill, seeing nothing but an empty slope, pressed up areas of grass representing where players had once resided. She peered into the eerie forest, rapier hung loosely in preparation; that is until a single person stepped out of the tree line and shadows like a wraith. And then he flickered out of existence.

Asuna stopped on her tracks sword at hand looking forward but she noticed something, the footsteps from behind her had stopped. And then the shattering sound started. That awful sound that signaled a death in the game. And it was a chorus so loud her ears popped. She turned around just to see a straight empty line behind her. Two rows… about 20 people gone in a flash. She focused the person was standing still behind the crowd. Asuna couldn't speak she felt paralyzed. And then he spoke. An insane, machine like voice that had given up on reason and reality a long time ago.

'You cheated and brought the big guns. Now it wouldn't be very fair if we didn't now would it. You were meant to stop their retreat, don't make me laugh. My soldiers will fight to the last HP point. They would never retreat. In contrast to your cowardly bunch. They weren't even afraid. After all your friends forces were obliterated. Although one of them did escape. Red bandana, samurai sword. Whatever, Mrs. Asuna I presume.' The last fraze was said with a noble and very civilized tone as if they were on a formal dance and not on a battlefield.

Asuna started replacing her shock with anger. Her soldiers had been killed, she had led her allies to their deaths with bad info, she was a killer and she would probably die herself soon enough. She felt nauseous but she had to suck it up. Having a shocked attitude could only make things worse. She swallowed it. She hid it. If she broke down now all would be lost. And even more people would die. She just couldn't even come close to accepting the idea.

'And you would be Poh?' the words got out of her mouth with absolute hostility

Poh made a dramatic bow and continued

'Pleased to make your acquaintance' a noble smile barely being seen under his hood.

'That would be a one sided pleasure' spitted out Asuna

'I do understand your anger but you attacked us with the intention to kill. Isn't it only fair that we do the same?' he said a genuine question in his voice

'We only attacked you when you killed all those innocent people for no reason.' Answered Asuna infuriated

'They were rotten, they deserved to die. We are the law. Did you even know those people? Search their sins?' asked Poh

Was this guy serious? He had killed that was certain the health bar showed that clearly enough. He was a murderer and he said he was right! Ooooh that wouldn't go unanswered

'They hadn't killed that is something I know and yet you did. Even if I saw it as an eye for an eye you are still on the wrong. Just psychos with a love for killing.'

'I am not going to kill you. You are pure; you have done nothing to deserve something like that. What does that tell you?'

'Why thank you, sparing me makes the loss of all those lives right is that it?'

'No the loss of their lives was right to begin with, there is no need for redemption. Having said that I may not kill you but I must temporarily incapacitate you.' He said in a very matter-of fact and laid back tone

He lowered his stance. He readied for attack. Everyone in the army watched dumbfounded. Too shocked to do anything. Too helpless to do anything. Too frightened to do anything.

And then the unthinkable happened. A glittering indigo smoke appeared in the exact center of it all. It was in the middle of the distance between Asuna and death gun. The indigo smoke started taking shape and color. Most of it turned black. It formed a black robe, two swords, one black and one aqua-colored, and a human carrying them all. He was Kirito and seemed fairly cool with everything going around. He turned towards death gun. Asuna who just then put the pieces together, in a desperate attempt to help she shouted.

'Everyone we can do this all of you attack the man in the skeleton ma….'

'DON'T YOU DARE MOVE.' Kirito said stretching his left hand 'He is mine'

Asuna shocked said the first thing that came to mind

'But we can help you. Why don't you want us to help?'

'He murdered my friends. He is mine to kill and mine alone.' a very deadly tone in his voice. 'After all you will just get in my way.' he said while she saw half his face. His lips breaking in sadistic expression of rage.

**Kirito POV**

To say Kirito was upset would be an understatement. He was livid. Klein teleported in the throne room telling him that their entire elite unit had died. Rescuing him from the verge of death himself as a poison effect was still in work and he was in the red zone. That is not something you can brush off. That calls for blood! He had let down both Leafa and Asuna and himself. He was angry at himself but right now he would do something more productive than wallow in self pity. He would tear the fucker limp from limp. And he would enjoy it.

Kirito had positioned himself, his black blade held angling outwards and downwards next to his right thigh as he bent slightly at the waist, squatting a little. Then he suddenly disappeared, only to appear a few meters away with his blade locked against Poh's. They disappeared again, flickering out like images on an old television, to then once more reappear with his blade pressed up against the butchers, the smaller blade locked against his neck. Every other movement was lost in a blur as they moved at speeds impossible for the normal naked eye to follow. Asuna herself could barely follow their dance; any attempt to assist Kirito would un-doubtfully result in her demise. The highest level of her guild, and yet she was nothing close to what could be classified as gods amongst men.

'So that's what a max level is capable of.' Asuna mumbled 'We really didn't stand a chance after all.' she murmured while tearing up at her inpotency.

They locked swords. Kirito tried to gain the upper hand in that state but Poh fell back. They broke off and then took their distance from each other. They stared each other in the eyes. Poh was the first to break the stare off. He laughed a hysterical laugh, like he just heard the punch line to the funniest joke of the world, which brought the chills to all who heard it. He then spoke:

'So you are the great beater guild master that I had heard so much about. The _King of Darkness._ You are max level, correct? Well that would have as being evenly matched now wouldn't it?'

Kirito still with a frighteningly serious gaze spoke

'Well I guess you will find yourself in for a surprise.'

He then pulled his second sword. The aqua-colored one. He raised his hand at eye height absorbed in his sword.

'I have made a promise to only use this sword for the revenge I will exact. It is my most powerful sword and I promise you, this will break the salemate.' He said with a cold tone that wasn't human.

He turned his gaze upon his opponent.

'It can only be wielded from max levels. We bought it after months worth of high level dungeon collectibles. It will seize revenge for them... for my sister. I guarantee it.' He said lowereing his tone and gaze at the last frase with a sad tone before snapping his gaze back up. 'Any last words?'

He took battle position with one sword parallel to the ground above his head and the other one looking straight up forming a 90 degrees corner. And then his look became ferocious, demon-like one might say, he started taking rythmic breaths.

'So be it.' As if on cue he dashed forward towards Poh.

Mere meters before colliding against the demonic butcher, Kirito launched himself into the air, twirling to gain speed and kinetic energy as he suddenly flashed down, a strike like vengeance from heaven. A silent scream for justice to be done at the slaughters taken part by the bloody hands before him. Dark Repulsor was blocked by the dagger in Poh's hand, the crystal blade leaving a crack across the daggers body. The sheer force behind the impact, and the fact that it had been stopped gave Kirito more airtime, seemingly turning off gravity as it negated his fall. Black coat fluttering out from behind him like the wings of an angel of death. It seemed for that moment that time slowed down for everyone, Asuna watched the silent communication between them by their eyes, anger and hatred blaring full blast towards the man before him, whilst the replying eyes mocked him with a sadistic and sarcastic twinkle.

Then time sped up again.

Kirito landed on the balls of his feet, his blades disappearing into a blur as he himself began to move faster and faster. He slashed with his right, only for it to be a feint and spun to his left and delivered a blow that would have easily cut Poh's body in half, only to have the said butcher dodge it by millimetres; to be then caught by a heavy blow from Eludicator's pummel. It was not lost to the man that Kirito could have killed him there and then with the bladed side instead of the hilt, but the raging angel of death was out for vengeance, and death to this man would not be slow.

Poh released an insane 'Whoop!' into the air as he then lunged forward, another dagger appearing in his hand as he began to spin like a twisting hurricane of iron and steel, black cloak flaring out around him like darkness itself. Kirito leapt backwards and then immediately spun, swinging both his blades in a full circle; one aiming at Poh's neck, the other at his waist. The mad leader of Laughing Coffin blocked the one of his waist barely, the flat side of his knife blade pressed against his hips whilst the upper cut was not so lucky. His defending weapon shattered under the power of the striking blow, but unluckily for Kirito, and luckily for Poh, the butcher leaned back slightly before his knife made contact, resulting in the raging brother's blade to only knick his throat. The assassin leapt back, whipping out three blades and flinging them at Kirito, before equipping another secondary dagger.

The Black Swordsman knocked away each of the flying daggers, displaying incredible reflexes as well as hand to eye coordination. He then leapt forward, not even allowing Poh breathing time before attacking in arcs from all directions. It seemed to Asuna that Kirito was wielding six blades, not two, as everything Poh went to block something another slash was coming from an obscure angle that would just glide over his dagger and leave thin slices across the man's body. The assassin was becoming desperate, flinging out poison gas bombs which were easily deflected away with the flat side of Kirito's blade. The final straw broke when Kirito whirled, spinning a full circle whilst in midair and brought both his blades down, cutting deep into the man's thigh as well as shoulder, leaving angry red score marks that revealed the crisscross of programming below, once again reminding them that they were not in reality, this was nothing more than a stupid death game.

Luckily there was no bleeding system in SAO so he didn't get killed. Out of shock he retreated far more than a battle would have him retreat. After a bit he abandoned all hypocrisy and just turned tail and run. Hits so near to the head are always critical so he took a health potion out as his HP was radically reduced. As he ran away he tried to get the top off his potion but then he stumbled falling on his face, he turned around facing up. His HP potion left his hand and rolled away from him. Kirito closed the distance slowly, step by step, making it painfully clear that he would go through with it.

The sky started getting filled with dark clouds. Poh quivered more and more with every step. He covered his head with his arms, bowing down on his knees. Kirito was standing on top of him the HP potion at his feet. He took one final step smashing the HP potion. He would drag this up as long as possible. He wouldn't kill him. But there were things worse than death. And he sure as hell would make him fear death first. He bowed down getting his mouth just beside his ear

'Any last words?' He repeated in a velvet, dangerously sweet, voice.

'Y-Yes...' he stuttered looking up to face him with a face that showed he was scared out of his wits 'tell your friends I got you'

A maniacal smile appearing in his face but Kirito tried to back off too late. A dagger was thrashed inside his gut and he could no longer move. As he fell, he understood. He had gotten cocky. And now he paid the price. Poh stood towering above him. He bowed down just like Kirito did before and got next to his ear

'I am not going to kill you. Gather your forces and come to try to beat us. You will never capture as alive. And to kill us you will create more red players than before. I am going to paint the world of SAO red and if you want revenge you will help me. Come and get me… _Beater_.'

Speaking the last word as the greatest of insults he got up and turned his back to the now paralyzed enemy. He grabbed a teleportation crystal from his back pocket and whispered the destination. The crystal broke and he was gone.

The rain started and Kirito just stood there. The paralyze effect would end in some minutes and until then he couldn't do anything. With tears rolling in his eyes camouflaged by the rain. He got surrounded by the army of ALFA. With utmost respect and care they picked him up and carried him to a carriage silently. It felt more like a burial of a hero, and it was justified… something inside Kirito had died, he had failed before the war had even started. His comrades had paid for it. He stood there still even though the paralysis had weared off. Asuna got inside the carriage at the opposite end. She felt useless, both in battle and as a human. They got to the Ambassadors of Light and Darkness' HQ where Kirito got up. He got out of the carriage and started heading inside the castle. He then stopped and half-turned his head and said in a quiet, empty tone.

'I am going to rest in my chambers. Bring your soldiers in, we have rooms to spare. The meeting starts first thing tomorrow.'

He took half a step and turned around.

'And Asuna… I am sorry for your soldiers... I was too late.' He said with a voice that had completely given in to sadness

He then turned around and kept going his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It must be noted that Asuna is still in her harcore "get out of the game" mode as she was before Kirito found her for the second time. So sorry. We are hinted though to the fact that she liked Kirito's character since the time they got in a duet for the first boss raid so this happens this time too. And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	4. Grief and Hatred

 

 

 

**Grief and hatred**

Kirito had a very troubled sleep. He fell asleep after an hour of staring at the fireplace at his room. He wasn't in his bed he was at a corner of the room simply… staring. Lifeless, beaten, remorseful. He didn't feel the need to eat or to move. He just looked at it. The fire was blue. It felt like he was watching his friend's souls and it hurt to remember. He didn't understand why this happened. What did he do wrong? What could he have done differently? Leave asuna and her troops to die? He didn't understand it. He didn't understand it at all. He fell asleep. The dream brought back to surface a culmination of his sorrows. When he got notified of the deaths of everyone that he had befriended by Klein, when his grandfather made his sister swear to practice kendo in order for Kirito to resume his life without being subjected to his grandfather's abuse but worst of all when he got notified of the death of Leafa and Silica broke.

He woke up sweaty and shouting. He had reached his limit, he burst into crying, silent held back but still crying. At that point Lisbeth entered the room slowly with grace but restraint showing. She was trying to hide how much she wanted to ease his pain, to give him a shoulder to cry on, to tell him that he wasn't alone, trying not to show the pity and grief she sympathized. She wanted to look dignified to the people she admired.

Kirito tried to wipe the tears and recollect himself. He stood up straightened his posture and equipped his trademark black coat. It gently settled on his shoulders. When he wore it he felt his responsibilities weighing on him, not allowing him to act selfishly. Like the coat wrapped up the steaming hot ball of emotions he had and hid it. Even if only temporarily. He took the most dignified face he could.

'Why are you here?' He asked in a flat tone

'Asuna asked me to get you! The generals await you Kirito.' She answered in a calm collected voice

'Oh yeah you were friends with her weren't you?' He said absentmindedly. Then he looked her in the eyes with a clearer head as the drowsiness had receded. 'What time is it?' He asked a bit more politely

'10:00 o'clock. You should hurry they have been waiting for 2 hours now. The leaders of the moonlight cats are starting to get annoyed and Hithcliff is about ready to take the helm of the strategy meeting while Pontifex Maximus is expertly spreading his ideals about humans that choose non-human classes being eccentric psychos.' She said calmly yet with a grain of worry and detest.

Damn, he had overslept. That alone made him lose face, nevermind leaving people bearing a grudge against him, especially the moonlight cats and Pontifex Maximus, in a room that decisions of vital importance are made sounds like a bad idea.

'Understood I will be on my way. Please inform everyone.' he formally requested

'As you wish' and with that she turned around to leave

'Oh and Liz' He said in the friendliest tone yet.

'Yes?' She asked half turning back to him

'Tell the rest that after the meeting we are going, okay?' He requested with a sad smile.

'Thank you Kirito.' And with that she left

As the door closed behind her Kirito turned his thoughts back to the meeting. Did he have the right to propose strategic attacks when his strategy had already taken so many lives? He felt inadequate but that's not something you show to an army right before a big battle, especially him. Although he was one of the many leaders he was the host, the founder of the alliance and most powerful player in it. He could not show his feelings of inadequacy. He put on his ring that allowed free teleportation inside guild ground (courtesy of the new updates) and chose to make up for his late coming with an impressive entrance so he just chose to teleport on his ''throne'' inside the meeting room.

He got disintegrated and reintegrated in a flash and he was now watching all the generals assembled. He rested his head on his fist and took his time to analyze everyone present.

His throne was the only sit that wasn't part of the table and was a bit higher than the rest, much to Kirito's disliking. But the other members all but begged him to be like that to show superiority. He had given up after some pestering. That pestering though seemed eons ago since it had happend before Leafa... _Better leave it at that_ He thought _I have work to do._

The first to pull his eyes was Heathcliff who was looking at him with a tranquil, good hearted smile from the opposite to him side of the table. He was a noble chyaracter and very good leaer from what he had heard and seen himself. He held great respect for the man with the third stronget guild in all of Aincrad.

Next was Asuna, to the left side of the table who had frozen mid-sentence with her hands flailing around. She looked very angry and frustrated. He felt a pang of guilt for what had happened yesterday but was curious enough to who she was adressing.

When he understood who she was shouting to he could almost see the past of this conference. It was Pontifex Maximus. He had turned his chair and was now looking at Kirito. When Kirito's stare landed on him his eyes showed withheld disgust. The feeling was mutual but for completely diferent reasons.

There were ofcourse about 20 other guild leaders around the table but they were all carbon copys of each other. Looking at him with awe, anticipation and a slight frustration, probably due to his delay. And ofcourse there were some lieutenants who stood behind their respected leaders. The only exception was Asuna as the leader of her guild was absent and Klein who was a co-founder with Kirito so he sat at a chair. A grim silent mask on his face looking at the table. Kirito took a deep breath and started talking

'So where are we in terms of strategy?' He asked

'Oh, the great host finally decided to honor as with his presence? Good thing this time around no ones life is at stake isn't it?' A voice said dripping with irony

That would be Keita's voice. Leader of the moonlight cats. Where had he been. Kirito hadn't spotted him by now. He traced the voice and saw that Keita was at his side of the table, his back turned to Kirito. That's why he hadn't noticed him. Keita's voice tied a knot on Kirito's stomach making him fairly unable to respond. The next voice was Asuna's.

'Please restraint yourself. If you have any bones to pick, challenge him in a duel later on. Although I am pretty much certain who the winner will be.' Se said formally, in sharp contrast to the compaionate smile she sent his way. Kirito appreciated this. In meetings like this everyone was too afraid to comprimise their neutrality to help anyone let alone openly stop the attack. After he let her down she still defended him while she could have easily, and almost rightfully blame him. When he thought this he felt some of his guilt getting alleviated off his back.

'Thank you for coming, we were about ready to explain why this operation is like throwing darts blindfolded while being on the top of a spinning wheel.' Asuna continued immediatly

Kirito mentally sighed. She lived up to the rumors about how caustic she could be.

'Let's hear it then.' He said more confidently than he felt

'First of all their base is a swamp and we don't know exactly where inside the swamp the members are. Also we have no idea of their levels, as not many players live to tell the story and those who do have usually ran into a low level members, and the only way we could usually identify them was that they proudly claimed the fame of the killing. Last but not least, Poh is their leader and tactician and as you may have understood he is an unpredictable psychopath who finds the majority of people around him expendable thus normal strategy predictions don't work on him.

'Aren't these the best odds a man can get' Klein spoke for the first time since the conference started. Bitterness dripping with every word. He was so full of hatred you hardly recognized him.

'Klein, are you okay?' Kirito asked.

Klein's eyes had a strange glint like they were searching for something to set on fire. Kirito didnt like it

'Actually no I am not okay. I haven't slept, I feel like I am going mad by the sound of our friends shattering in the battlefield and now I am sitting here instead of avenging them with these shitheads, some of whom seem more interested sticking a dagger on your back than Poh's' He pointed a death gaze towards Pontifex Maximus before moving on 'talking strategy with little to no information. So no Kirito I am definitely not okay, and I will never be okay if I don't hear the sweet sound of Poh's scream when he sees his guild burn to the ground.' He said deadly serious.

Kirito didn't recognise himself in that speech. He saw a demon, a spirit of vengeance who had robbed Klein of emotion. Kirito was strugling with his own emotions too hard to ask Klein if he was oky earlier. Sorrow had eaten him up from the inside for too long. He needed to dumpen the sorrow and rage and he needed to do that now.

Silence and tension so thick you could cut them with a knife had spread inside the room. The first to speak was Kirito. He had a cold malicious smile that made the blood in everyone's veins freeze still. He chuckled and then spoke

'You know Klein actually I do feel the same as you. I feel the rage and the hatred brimming within me. Vengeance taking over. So what do you say? Should we send even more soldiers to the gutter?' He started raising his voice. 'Should we send our soldiers, because they have a numerical advantage, to their deaths? We will probably win you know and then WHAT. The strongest players will be dead and no one will be able to clear the higher floors. ALSO should I remind you we have an expiration date before the government pulls the plug on us? So is that what you want Klein vengeance in spite of all that. HUH'

Klein didn't say a thing. Kirito from before he started this game would never do something like this but Leafa had told him that the way he acted on the beater incident was bone chilling and he could use it when he wanted to tame an enraged person.

Klein knew that he was wrong but had too much pride to admit it so he stood silently. Kirito now continued with a calmer voice, breaking the staring contest and averting his gaze to Asuna.

'What do you propose?' He asked sternly

'Scouts. Send our rogues, thieves and assassins to find all their hiding spots and give as a first idea of their power. The rest will be chess from there.' She said almost excitedly

Chess huh? Kirito betted his right arm that the best person for that was Leafa who was… ''absent''. Oh how he wishes he was here now. Damn it brain focus focus.

'Anyone opposing the idea?' He asked

Silence

'I support it. You have our rogues please send them off yourself; I have some business to attend to.' He said rashly

'Certainly. But... what kind of business?' She asked confused

'Collecting information. Speaking of information how many troops do we have?' He asked non-chalantly

'Roughly 3000' She said simply

'Thank you very much.' He said smiling he turned then to everyone. 'Meeting adjourned.' He said clearly with his voice echoing a bit inside the huge room

The leaders sluggishly stood up from their sits in contrast to Kirito who energetically and fairly swiftly stood up and started walking away. Just as rashly his closest friends started walking behind him as they knew where he was going. Agil, Argo, Klein, Lizbeth followed Kirito in formation to go see their former comrade, Silica!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Finally we have laid out the aliance formation as well as their characters. Now it is time to see some more of Leafa's death effects on the interior of the guild. Review your opinions about the aliance. And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	5. Doors and Horns

**Doors and Horns**

**Kirito POV**

Kirito walked through the halls of the tomb. He could of course teleport there he still had his ring equipped but he really wasn't eager to be greeted by the sight he knew he would have to face. Instead he walked through the 9th floor up to the 10th where Silica lived.

The company arrived at the huge door where the treasure room was. The door inspired awe. 6 feet tall it was all marble white with black forms sculpted on it. A demon and an angel fighting it out with the demon holding a scythe while the angel a lance. They were ready to strike and looked alive just about ready to move. Normally a person that had reached there would be greatly overjoyed since he would have gained all the riches of the guild's treasury. Not really the case here. Behind the door two voices were easily distinguishable. Maniacal laughs from a female voice and scared tormented cries from a male voice.

The followers looked to their leader. Waiting. Finally after a minute or so weighing his options he started speaking with a fairly hesitant voice.

'Ok so…' He turned around and looked at them all. 'Klein'

'Yes' sounded the decisive voice of the co-founder.

'I want you to be ready to activate paralyzing strike'

'Yes' he said simply

Kirito then turned to the rest. 'Everyone that has a power that stuns or binds their target step forward.'

Argo and Klein did.

Kirito then turned his back on them. His voice turned a tad more serious but something else too… stress maybe? 'Take into account your energy the time this skill stuns the target and your energy regeneration and tell me how much time you can immobilize Silica each.'

Argo stepped forward. '

With my poison gas I can stop her for 2 minutes each time but her HP can only take 4 blows from my skill as she isn't a high HP class. But Kirito we don't have to do this alone. We could bring reinforcements with the right skills and…' She said but was interrupted

'NO! This is an internal matter. I don't want anyone else to see her like this.' Kirito said upset. Argo looked a bit angry for getting shot down like that but she also understood. It wasn't a pleasant sight

'At least let us bring our NPC's. Also drop the tough guy act here. You are between friends you don't have to act all superior all the time' Argo said clearly angry

Kirito cringed. He was acting like an asshole and he knew it but he couldn't help it. The stress from all these days and the imending task was taking its toll.

_Focus_

He turned his attention back to the matter at hand. He pondered about Argo's sugestion. If they told their NPC's to not say this to anyone they wouldn't. Their creators' orders were absolute. It was a good idea.

'Ok bring them here. And… sorry for that. It has been a rough week' He said in a more easygoing almost apologetic tone because he was too abrupt before.

'I know, it's okay. We have all gone through it.' She said in a sympathetic voice. Then a sad smile spread on Argo's face. 'Great, now you got me all emotional. Wait' She shook her head and her mischievious smile returned to her face. 'Back to work' she said and ran off to gather the leadership member's NPC's.

While she was running off Kirito was hit by the memory of Leafa lecturing him a month ago.

**Flashback**

'Listen up Kirito' said Leafa with a friendly yet a bit annoyed voice. 'You were spacing out again weren't you?'

'Sorry it is just a bit difficult to follow you when you go into these details' said Kirito while smiling sheepishly

'Look there was a new update and there are some important things you should know about as a guild leader and...' she was cut off by Kirito

'I know ok it is just that I am really tired of being a guild leader. It proves to be quite a lot of just bossing people around. And also I am fairly concerned about these updates you know. They have brought up some new problems. The NPCs have become way too smart and now they send NPCs alone on missions as if they die they can just regenerate them and they kill people a lot more efficiently as the emotions haven't really caught up to the rest of their intelligence. Thank god that an update after that made the owner of the NPC change his karma color when his NPC does something as if he did it himself. Next there are the guilds' HQs. They are now plunderable. Small guilds are getting decimated and almost no one founds new ones in fear of being seen as easy targets. Next there is the third kind of zone that is the people controlled zones where the owner is as good as a game master inside it with the only thing missing is the ability to log out' He cringed at that and continued. 'I have heard some disturbing rumors of people turning off the pain inhibitors within their zones and torturing people for information. Argo has gone into hiding of fear that if she gets caught she is in for it. This game has gotten way too realistic for my tastes. Death was bad enough but this is turning into reality, no atrocity missing. The only thing left is the censorship as there is no blood and the wound just gets glittery.' He chuckled a bit humorlessly there 'I am starting to dread the sound of that stupid horn. Every time I hear it I am forced to get accustomed to something worse' He sighed and continued. 'So what now? What _marvels_ did this new update bring us?'

'Morale' answered Leafa simply with a trickster smile

'Morale?' Kirito asked being taken aback

'Oh so now you are interested?' Leafa said and Kirito betted his little sister took great pleasure in lecturing him.

'Ok, sorry cut the ribbing and tell me what you mean' Kirito said while Leafa sighed

'Actually Kayaba seems to have heard your wishes about increasing the emotional sensitivity of the NPCs and now they are affected by morale. Their stats can increase up to 100% from how motivated they are. Happy now?'

Kirito felt a strong urge to bang his head against the wall but resisted it as he made his own bed so it was time to sleep in it.

'Ok hit me what does that mean for me'

'You will have to act the role of the leader while giving orders. 50% of the morale comes from the attitude of their leader towards them, meaning they have to like their leader according to their character. 25% comes from the attitude of the members towards them. Last 25% comes from how much they act as the more work they are assigned the more the morale raises as they feel useful.' Kirito stood there dumbfounded as he digested the information.

'Ok 3 questions. One, doesn't that mean that a level 80 NPC will have the stats of a level 160 giving him an impossible advantage against players, two who feels better morale when they are working like seriously shouldn't they be feeling tired and grumpy and 3 not a question, a declaration, you owe me big time for this. Why did I ever agree to be the official guild leader?'

'Well to answer your questions no it doesn't give them an advantage quite the opposite as their neutral state stats have been halved so now in order to be at the same state as before they have to be at 100% morale. About the work thing I don't know if I am correct but I would guess that when you are being ordered by your creator it isn't the same as being ordered around normally so they feel more honored. For the last question because it is the best choice for outsiders to not know who the real leader between us is as if they knew it was me they would kill me and the guild would really have no orders while if they killed you I would be able to lead efficiently. Also you have better chances of defending yourself as you are a melee class while I need a tank while I cast'

'So what you are saying is that I am your human shield' said Kirito feeling a bit angry.

'Yes but think of it this way if I was in your position I would be in much more danger as I wouldn't be able to defend myself equally. The risk is less even though it might get shifted to you…' He said lowering his head and his voice looking as if he felt guilt. After some seconds Kirito sighed loudly.

'Ok tell me what I need to do.' He gave up. Leafa raised his head and continued

'As the perfect leader varies from one NPC to another it is impossible to have 100% morale of all of them.' He made a pause for emphasis. 'But there is an archetype from what I have observed of other guilds of a leader that has relatively good results on all NPCs. That is to be polite and benevolent when outside of battle but stern and decisive when inside battle. A realistic archetype of a good leader if you ask me'

'So I will need to be like that all the time' asked Kirito tensing up

'Only when you are addressing the NPCs. Whatever action isn't addressed to them is not registered.'

'So be it but I will need you to train me a bit.'

'Whenever you need me Kirito, whenever you need me' She said with an unexpectedly warm voice fatherly even. It made him almost stop being mad for being a human shield, almost

**Flashback End**

Agil then stepped forward and broke Kirito out of his daze. Agil waited for the guild master to clear his head and started speaking.

'Kirito seriously why don't you just use the non aggression setting in the room making it essentially a safe zone?' He asked

'Because in order for the game to make players not attack the game summons guards that attack you every time you attack. If I do that they will kill her as she won't stop attacking no matter what. I want our friend alive thank you very much.'

Agil put a hand on the back of his neck and looked away

'Right sorry hadn't thought of that.' He said awkwardly and stepped back.

Argo then came with the NPCs except her own.

'Where is your NPC Argo?' Kirito asked

'Well you gave Asuna the right to send off our rogues but as you know most of them are under my command. I want to be here for Silica but someone has to oversee it so Mephisto is on it.' She said a bit mischieviously but overall serious.

'Okay then' Sid Kirito now relieved no more casualties had occured

The NPCs all stood in a straight line facing their creators while Argo joined the group of friends. Kirito then spoke.

'Everyone talk this over with your NPCs. Tell me how much stunt time they can give me and no more life draining skills. Argo's will be a danger on its own right. Lastly order them to never mention this to anyone outside.'

After the preparations were done and the accumulated time was considered they calculated they had a maximum of half an hour in which they could talk to Silica without enabling her to move.

Kirito then spoke

'Ok, ready?' He asked. Everyone nodded grimly. He turned around ready to open the door.

Then at the worst possible time a horn sounded signaling an update.

Kirito widened his eyes 'Not now, please not now. Choose anytime but now. If the rules change now we are done for.' but the system didn't hear him as the update continued normally making everyone pass out to use all its processing power without having to worry about its players

As Kirito was losing conscience the last thought he had was 'Well Leafa seems that you aren't here whenever I need you after all' and with crying eyes he passed out.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and tell me your ideas for the story as well if you liked it and why. And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	6. Dialogues and Choices

 

**Dialogues and Choices**

**Akihiko Kayaba POV**

**1 hour before the update**

'So… war huh.' He mumbled to himself. He was in a nice, cozy room inside the HQ of the Ambassadors of Light and Darkness.

He was just sitting on a chair next to a window, gazing thoughtlessly.

There was _much_ to admire.

The guild HQ at first glance could easily be considered boss dungeon. It was a huge, magnificent stone castle that really made you feel the middle age setting. A ditch surrounded it with a black liquid inside it with the only way to go over it being a bridge lowered from the inside.

When you got inside you were greeted by the market where player merchants traded their goods, ranging from fruits and meat to swords and lances.

Further to the center of the castle ,through the market, there was a set of huge wooden double doors with metal engravings at the sides. The doors opened to reveal a huge, sand floored, training ground and a smaller, but not small by any means, castle made of white and black marble. The true Headquarters was there. Al the ranked officers stayed there while the rest stayed inside the huge city around the marketplace.

Kayaba didn't like to use his admin status much to get information, as it took the fun out of the game, so when he saw the marvel of this HQ he couldn't help but feel moved by the art created in his world.

As amazing as this may be still it looked a bit "dark" on the outside, evil one might say, even the grass died in a 1 kilometer radius around it. If one saw the usual dwellers he wouldn't really change his mind. Every group, from merchants, to citizens, to warriors was explicitly consisted of skeletons, demons, vampires, elfs, dwarves and everything in between.

Oh the irony of an army led by monsters being the noble warriors against an army of bloodthirsty humans.

Kayaba liked it here. It gave a bit of worth to his work. He put a great amount of effort on the character creator so the last thing he wanted was a human only world. That would be annoying and insulting, never mind boring.

This war though was anything but boring him. There wasn't anything that could really go wrong. Despite the fear of the players the government would _**never**_ dare to kill 7000 humans at once. He knew exactly how many and how powerful the two sides were. Even if his calculations were wrong and too many people died he could just weaken the next bosses to make the fight winnable or just wait for the people in the town of beginnings to grind their way to power. So no problem there.

It was an interesting idea too. How many philosophers would have killed to see this social experiment in action? People were taken from their normal lives and they were put in a state of nature as philosophers call it. A new world with no authorities and governments. The possibilities of what the players could come up with were endless yet they created governments. They just called them guilds. And now they were even starting their first war. History was being made and social science was evolving.

When the game was cleared he would definitely publish anonymously every detail about this.

'When the game was cleared…' He mumbled. He tightened his fists. He really couldn't face the idea that his world, His creation, His _child_ , would end just like that. It was eating him up inside.

But those were the rules he had set at the beginning and a god has to be just. A god? Well ofcourse he could be considered a god but that didn't mean he really was one. But in his mind he had accepted himself as one. Maybe he was just going crazy but who knows… It wasn't really healthy to dwell on it further

So his duty, as the god of this world, is to make the war heroic and worth remembering! To teach people through it! He was also interested in its psychological sociological effects.

'So what should I do?' He inquired. He couldn't just tell to the council to how to act. He didn't have the right to. It was a democracy of the people and even as a god he didn't want to force them to do something.

'So then what is in the realms of a god?' He mentally said

' _World creation.'_ An emotionless voice said inside his head

'Done that' He said in matter-of-fact-tone.

' _Not good enough'_ The voice retorted ' _How can you expect realistic, meaningful results when your world is lacking. Where are the things that make people afraid of war? Where are the traumatizing parts? A world needs both good and evil. Not everything can be rosy. Death alone isn't enough to make others understand the pain. There are no remains, no blood and no scars. The world needs to learn to fear evil to be good. So make this war the time when this world became reality. Make it true history.'_

'You are wrong' Kayaba said simply. 'I am a benevolent god. I don't want my creations to suffer.'

' _There are three reasons this is wrong. 1 they suffer from each other already. You just want to keep your hands clean. But if you could look besides yourself you would see that fear would prevent many deaths from happening. 2 you are no benevolent god. They still die out there. Since you made a deathgame you cannot be called…'_

'And what stops me from ending the death mechanic?' Kayaba interrupted

' _Nothing, but then you would turn this back into a simple_ _ **game**_ _.'_ He said the lastword with disgust ' _You made an alternative reality. You are on the verge of making it reality. Are you really going to back out_ _ **now**_ _while history is being made? At the very least it would be unfair to the 3000 people that have died already.'_ He stopped letting it sink in. ' _Besides as I was saying the third reason is you yourself don't believe I am wrong. If you did you wouldn't have prepared_ _ **THE UPDATE.'**_ He said with some awe in his voice which surprised Kayaba since the voice was calm and apathetic up until now… he was surprised by a voice in his own head… maybe he really was going crazy.

But those last words truly stroke awe inside him to the very core. THE UPDATE was his work this last year. He had lost sleep, meetings, had skipped meals, all in order to complete it as soon as possible. It was trully hard to make spare tme when you lead a military organization to do something as time consuming as programming. Epecially when the new lines of code had to be written by him alone.

THE UPDATE he thought. Could the moment he had been waiting for be now? He pondered over it. Yes this would be the perfect time. He would finally use it.

There were risks ofcourse but they had been accounted for. His world would be safe. He quickly voiced the command to teleport to the administrator room. It was a dark empty room outside the Aincrad with only a computer screen and a keyboard. He started typing like a madman. He made his final checks for bugs; Bugs at such a legendary moment would be unacceptable. After his scan ended he loaded the update.

Only one choice left to make. The screen biped and a window opened

_Would you like to relinquish the throne? Recite the answer_

Kayaba thought about it. After some silent thinking he took a deep breath and started reciting

'I am the god of this world. Always was, always will be. From now on and forever I am immortal, I am eternal, I am the ruler, I am the king, I am god.'

The system having its answer started installing the update. The horn was music to his ears!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter was kind of fillerish but I wanted to give some insight to Kayaba's way of thinking and god complex as I believe it was at the time of SAO. Please review if you believe anything wasn't fitting And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	7. Awakening and Pain

**Awakening and Despair**

**Kirito POV**

Kirito started resurfacing from the system induced coma. The first of his senses to kick in was taste. He didn't really taste anything but he knew it was like that. It was always in a specific order. Consciousness, taste, touch, smell, hearing, seeing and the ability to move. These were the seven stages of the so-called brain tuning.

If it was any other way, players on critical situations like let's say on the edge of a cliff could fall off without even knowing they are falling and die. Akihiko Kayaba apparently didn't want players die because of glitches.

Kirito was really driving himself mad with stress. He needed to check his inbox immediately. In the inbox would be a message saying what has changed through the last update.

The tuning with his brain was painfully slow. Taste had settled in but he couldn't taste anything. Touch was settling in right now and he could only feel some light pressure on his cheeks and chest. He concluded that this was because he fell forward on the floor face first.

'I am so happy that the pain inhibitors are at maximum in here' he mentally noted relieved.

When touch settled in completely he could feel the marble on his face squashing his facial features. But… wait… he could feel way more than that. He could feel the cold seeping through the marble and into him. He could feel every speck of dust on his cheeks. He could even feel the air pressure around him. That was way too detailed and intense for a game. To simulate sensations like these for every single player the amount of data needed would be monstrous. But yet he felt it right now.

'Maybe it is because my brain is trying to perceive with only two senses. No, not possible, no matter how much my brain tries to perceive if there is no amount of data ready to be perceived there is no way the brain can do it.' He reasoned and shot down himself. 'Then maybe subconscious hallucinations. I know that I am touching marble; I have touched marble before so my brain is simulating it again. Possible but farfetched. I guess I will have to wait.'

While trying to reason with his present circumstances his sense of smell tuned in. His thoughts got disoriented immediately as an awful stench stroke his nostrils. Blood. Dried up blood and… was that burning flesh. He could barely hold in the need to puke. Suddenly he was happy for his inability to move muscles as without his stomachs subconscious movements he couldn't puke. But this was really weird! This game didn't even have a smell mechanic if not for flowers, perfumes and food. What was going on? Why could he smell at all? Never mind intensely enough to trigger such reactions.

This was more intense than real life. How could a machine simulate such an amount of data? He could honestly not understand.

If this kept up with the rest of his senses he would likely start panicking. The ways this could go wrong were too many too count but two stood out. There was the possibility of the system breaking down because of the process power over exerting it, closing the servers possibly killing everyone in the process. And then there was the possibility of his brain "overloading" as these sensations could be too much to handle ending up with him in a coma.

He decided to try his best to not think about it and try to get accustomed to his senses as they were already causing him a headache. That proved no easy task as he had to "mute" them and he tried to do so by focusing on them and willing them to get "muted." Failing miserably in the process.

Hearing started getting tuned in and he could hear some unsteady breathing and held back crying but it was all so far away. Like a voice heard when you are inside water from the outside. The voices were all muffled, but that didn't last long as they seemed to get closer and closer until they reached normal. He could now understand the voices it was the lieutenants, his friends he corrected, crying. Crying? What for? Why would his friends suddenly start crying? As it went the crying got louder and louder until it became unbearable like a siren sounding right next to your ear threatening to rip your eardrums. He wanted to shout to them to shut up. To stop. He was in agony.

'STOP IT, STOP IT, JUST STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP' He screamed inside his head

Then his vision started settling in. At first his vision was blurry. He could see some figures. He could probably match them by the colors they wore. Klein was red, Agil was a tanned brown from his skin etc. But he couldn't care less. He was in great pain. All the sound it hurt him. Then it started getting clearer and clearer. When it reached a reasonable level he could see Agil and Klein holding in their hugs Argo and Lizbeth accordingly. The hugged persons crying at the top of their lungs (or at least that's how it felt) and the huggers trying, but failing, to hold back tears of their own to seemingly support the others. But his vision kept getting better. He could now identify every single thread in Argo's trademark coat.

The bombardment of data gave him a headache like never before. The pain between his eyes felt like there they were on fire. When his sight finally settled completely he was wishing he could just faint again.

Then the movement started settling in. As always it went from the upper body to the lower body like an invisible scanner line. It started with his forehead immediately convulsing to form wrinkles from the pain. Then his eyes which he slammed shut immediately feeling the pain receding slowly. While the control reached his mouth he didn't feel the need to greet his teeth as the intense sound had subsided leaving only ragged uneven breaths. The control continued through his body. His torso, his arms, his legs. He controlled everything but moved nothing in fear of restarting the pain.

Keeping his eyes shut he took a deep breath started speaking with a low, almost pleading, voice.

'Please stop speaking loudly' he said while putting his hands on the marble and pushing himself to sit upright.

He slowly opened his eyes a bit just so he could barely see. Two things surprised him. One was that although his vision was still cranked up to eleven it didn't hurt anymore. The other was that he saw Lizbeth's teary yet smiling face way too close to his own, her body in mid-air. She was hovering towards him but it seemed impossibly slow. Like she was moving through honey. Out of reflex he lied back to dodge. He was still moving in normal speed so why was Lizbeth so slow.

She flew slowly over him and landed face first on the door he was ready to open before the update. Thankfully not opening it. She fell in slow motion as well.

Before she landed on the ground he reached out for her and grabbed her bridal style, setting her straight on her feet and standing up in front of her. Her face still not changed from the teary smile.

'What the hell is going on?' He murmured dumbfounded

Not knowing what to do, he instinctively did what every gamer does when something goes wrong. He opened his menu. To be more accurate he tried to open his menu with the fluid motion of his hand but nothing happened. He widened his eyes in disbelief, stopping mid-breath choking and coughing unable to breath due to the shock.

Wait… that wasn't all. Many things were amiss. His health bar didn't show. His friends in front of him didn't have names floating above their heads. And something else. He was stepping on something. He raised his foot only to see a small piece of wood. He found it strange until he searched the space and saw the door onto which Shalltear slammed and there he saw the impossible.

A piece of wood of the same shape was missing.

'B-But how…? It is an immortal object. Nothing should affect it. H-How can this be?' He asked himself disbelievingly.

In his mind it all started to fit together one by one like a Jigsaw puzzle. The smells, the sense of temperature, the enhanced graphics, the uninhibited pain, the menu that was not appearing and this piece of wood. Everything stuck together. Akihiko Kayaba made this world as an alternative reality. Now no one could even understand the difference.

Then realization struck him and cold sweat washed over him. What was that smell he from before? He looked through the broken part of the door. There he saw horror. Blood and guts everywhere. Bones tossed around and… and… a head looking directly at him. He knew that head. It was the Tamers from before. But why could he see it… it should have been shattered blue pixels by now... and all that blood… SAO didn't have that. He needed an explanation and he needed now. He was panicking. He slowly raised his gaze from the head to understand that it was on Silica's squatting lap. He reluctantly raised his gaze further up meeting her face. The face of Silica looking through the crack with a drugged-like smile on it was the last drop. Kirito completely broke down. He fell on his knees. He put his hands on his temples and screamed.

'WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING OOOOOOOOON' He shouted. His voice filled to the brim with desperation.

As if someone heard him he started teleporting. Blue light filled his field of vision and then he was gone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know I havent explained anything here but this awakening was just for forshadowing and build of tension trust me everything will be explained in a chapter (or two). Review if uou believe that something I mentioned is impossible And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	8. Déjà vus and Growth

**Déjà vus and Growth**

**Asuna POV**

The light receded from his field of vision and what she saw had her feeling like she just woke up from a bad dream.

She was back.

Back to where it all started.

Back to the town of beginnings on the plaza where her life changed.

She was back there for the first time since _that_ day. She had left and never looked back. Leveling up, grinding, and working herself until she fainted, all in order to get out of this hellish game.

Could this all have been a dream? Those 2 years of suffering and fighting?

A small part of her desperately hoped she hadn't spent 2 years inside the game. But her logical part of the brain knew this could never be true no matter how much she wished it to be so.

A simple look on her body assured her that was the case as her equipment was way too high level for a beginner.

She suppressed the shock and logic took over. She wasn't the rich girl she was before. She had survived on the frontlines of this deathtrap for a whole year now. She had been in more stressful and dangerous situations before. This couldn't even compare to being surrounded by high level monsters and not having a teleportation crystal. She shivered at the memory.

She started paying closer attention to her surroundings. People were here, the place was the same and the faces were familiar just like last time but that was where the similarities ended.

Nothing else was like before. There were fewer people, as many had died in that 1 year, and the ones that had remained weren't the same. These ones looked nothing like the crying, terrified, complaining and cowardice mob that was present last time. Since then they had seen close ones die. They had probably come close to death themselves more than once. Experiences like those can change a person.

After the initial confusion they had nothing that even resembled fear. No, if anything looked furious! Furious and determined.

Her headache seemed to have short of subsided but she still felt the aftermath. That was the worst waking up of her life. She was in pain. Not the kind of tortures but the kind of the worst possible hit on the head you can suffer without passing out. It would seem, by the grunting she heard that she wasn't the only one that felt it. On a closer inspection though the ones that grunted were only the high-level ones while the lower level ones seemed perfectly fine. Why was that?

She allowed her eyes to wonder through the crowd forpeople she recognised.

She spotted her guild master, Thinker talking around calming the few uneasy people who had never left the town of beginnings. Mostly children too scared to put their life at risk. That man truly inspired her and that is why she joined the guild. That and the fact that the guild comprised almost solely from people who were just as passionate about clearing the game as her. She felt really lucky to have found them.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream. Followed by a man desperately shouting at the top of his lungs. 'YOU MANIAC. YOU PSYCHOPATH. WHY? WHY NOW? HOW MUCH WILL YOU HAVE US SUFFER BEFORE YOU ARE SATISFIED?'

Whose voice was that? It seemed **familia** r but she couldn't exactly pinpoint it. The answer was revealed to her when shocked people started getting away from a kneeling, wide-eyed man in a black cloak looking at the sky. That was Kirito but why was he screaming? What had happened and who was he talking to? She looked at the sky trying to see what he was looking at but nothing was there yet. Although people were waiting for the warning signs to cover it up.

They were certain it would happen but as it stood now Kirito was screaming at the blue sky. She looked down at him again. He looked broken, desperate. Not even close to the person she knew. The person that she had teamed up with on the first boss battle or the person at the meeting room was nothing like this man she saw now. This one seemed completely out of it.

Without thinking, her body acted on her own and she rushed to him. She kneeled in front of him put one hand on his shoulder and with the other she forced him to look at her. His eyes suddenly relaxed. He seemed to be coming in contact with the real world more now. She took courage from this sudden change of attitude and hesitantly started talking

'Kirito…' She pause not sure of what she was going to say next. On the contrary Kirito seemed to have regained a grasp on his laid-back attitude even though she knew it was a tough-guy act. No one could transition from that shocked to this calm in mere seconds but maybe it was for the best. Their whole army and their enemies were here. Any weakness would not be taken lightly and if it meant he had to suppress a mental breakdown so be it. Her train of thought interrupted by Kirito answering to her

'Yes?' He said gently urging her to continue. His eyes gave up a wave of comfort that washed over her. His sudden change of attitude paired with those eyes had her gapping not sure what to say or if she wanted to say anything at all. Kirito nevertheless proceeded to answer her unspoken questions in a very intense tone.

'Asuna I am truly sorry for that breakdown. I have no time to explain but you have to understand after Kayaba brings us up to speed most people here will be in a worse mental condition than I was. Something terrible came with that update and the courage exhibited now by everyone will crumble when everyone learns what it is! We have to prepare them somehow… please I need your help. I don't know how to do it.' He finished the last sentence with an almost pleading tone. In the meantime a circle of people had been created around them. Everyone was watching, curious to what happened.

Asuna looked at Kirito. She went closer to him and whispered to his ear.

'Stand up. Try to look stoic and inspiring. Follow my lead and say what you need to say.'

Kirito nodded.

They got up slowly and turned to the people around them back to back. Asuna gave a scanning gaze before she started talking.

'Comrades, it would seem that this update had more to it than what meets the eye. Kayaba, if he dares to finally show up, will explain it to you clearly but until then prepare yourselves. No matter what he says be strong and know that we can clear this wretched game. Together.' She earned a round of shouts. 'Don't let that psycho see you weak. Through all the times we have fought his creations we emerged victorious. What does it matter if an update changed some things? WE-SHALL-WIIIIIIIN!' At this point almost the whole plaza was shouting. She turned around to see Kirito half turned to her. A lopsided smile on his face. More honest than his tough guy act. This was truly genuine and made her go all fluttery inside.

'Not bad for an impromptu speech?' He said still smiling

'Thanks.' Was the only thing she managed to say before blood came off the ground.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Since you read this up until the 8th chapter I will guess you like the story. A little secret (sort of) for your trouble. This was originally meant to be an SAOxOverlord but it was revised so magic and other overlord elements were taken away from it. Although I did keep some mechanics (Player made sentient NPCs) from now on it will walk its own road having half of my attention (the other half will be on an Artemis Fowl ff I have). If you wish for the overlord crossover to continue as well message me and you can adopt the story. As always 
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	9. Guilt and Revelations

 

**Guilt and Revelations**

**Kirito POV**

Steady streams of red, silky smooth liquid lazily came through the Tiles of the floor.

As if it was on purpose the blood streamed only around the pair of generals that were back to back and formed a red sphere above them, hiding the rest of the crowd from them and vice versa.

'It is starting.' Kirito said seriously

'Yeah' Asuna said calmly 'Ready?' She asked.

'Sure.' Kirito looked around the blood walls. 'When the stream ends and the sphere solidifies to make the cloaked human we dash out of here to help everyone.' Kirito said with the tiniest specs of urgency in his voice. Asuna cleared her throat.

'Kirito, you do realize you still haven't told me what I am helping them cope with right?'

'Sorry about that but we both don't have enough time and I don't even know perfectly yet.' Said Kirito apologetically.

As if to emphasize that the stream suddenly ended and they dashed at opposite directions of the plaza. Kirito ran, people parting at his way, until he was surrounded by the crowd. He turned around and raised his head to watch the giant game master with the best façade of confidence he could muster.

**Don't show it.**

He still felt sick from what he had seen.

**Don't break.**

All this blood...

**Not again. Especially not now in front of everyone.**

Silica.

**Don't think about her.**

That innocent annoying little girl he had found in the woods, alone, abandoned, had become a killing psychopath. And it was his fault.

**No, it isn't. Stop it. It is the worst time possible for this.**

He gave her a new home, new people to love and befriend and she based her psychology on it all, only to be taken away again.

**Not your fault. It's not your fault.**

And the one she grew the closest to?

**Don't think about her**

Suguha.

The day when he told Silica will be etched in his nightmares forever.

**No… Don't.**

But it was too late. His mind already trailed off. Everything played out in front of him again.

**Flashback**

Kirito was on a raid to get a special item before the war.

The raid was a tough one and it had a 6 people maximum limitation.

Kirito, Klein, Silica, Argo, Lizbeth and Agil were here for 4 days now. They even had to sleep inside the dungeon in rows while someone stayed up to make certain no surprise attacks would occur. They wanted to take Leafa with them but the NPCs weren't enough to run the guild alone so she had to stay.

It was the fourth night and everyone was beat. They had camped outside the boss door. Gathered around a fire sitting on the dirt, tents already set around them.

'So' Agil said breaking the silence they had as they were calming their nerves from a day full of fighting. 'Who takes the first shift?'

'Don't even think about it' said Lizbeth. 'I am beat. If I wake up at all it will be a miracle on its own right.'

'Not so used to having days of non-stop work are you Liz.' Said Agil with a playful tone earning a death glare from Lizbeth

'Some swords above tenth tier take a month to make but there the movements are mechanic and your team is larger. Here you life is at stake and if your mind flies away for a second you get beheaded. It is more nerve racking.' She said constantly lowering her tone and head as if she didn't feel ok admitting it. She then snapped her head back to a death glare 'And-don't-call-me-Liz.' She said pausing between each word. Kirito noticed Agil giving her a cheeky smile.

Wrong move.

Talking from experience if Kirito was Agil he would sleep with one eye open for the rest of the raid. Kirito decided he had to break this off before it escalated

'Ok, ok break it off you two. Lizbeth will take the last shift. After all she took 2 consecutive shifts yesterday because someone had gotten perma-paralyzed and Liz had to craft a curing crystal.' He gave a meaningful glance to Silica. The girl blushed and looked down.

'Sorry.' She said shyly.

'It's ok. Now the problem still remains. Who will take the first shift?' Everyone avoided eye-contact. Klein then spoke awkwardly.

'Kirito not to be rude but you seem the most rested person out of us all. Why don't you take the first shift?'

'Do you really trust him not to fall asleep?' Argo said holding back a laugh but grinning like an idiot. Kirito took offence.

'Hey, I can stay up if I want to!'

'For how long one or two?' She said ironically. Kirito thought about it

'Ok the first 2 hours are mine.'

'Oh no, you didn't understand. 1 or 2 minutes. I'm not trusting you to have my back for 2 hours. After all you sleep so much you made sleeping a skill. You broke the system.'

'Ok that's it. Everyone go to bed. I have all the shifts today.'

'Ok if you insist.' Said everyone with mock obedience and quickly sat up and went to their tents. Girls on the green tent and boys on the white one. Kirito felt he had been scammed. A feeling only reinforced by what he heard while they were settling down.

'I thought you trusted Kirito.' Whispered a voice that resembled Silica.

'Oh I do. Don't let my acting fool you, I trust him with my life. He may be sleepy normally but I have known him since he was a duet with Silica. The man could go on grinding for a week or 2 before he passed out cold.' Kirito blushed at that. 'But you see I reaaaaaaally didn't want to have a shift today. So what better way to do so than challenge his manliness? So I just gave him bait and he swallowed it bait, line and sinker. Now excuse me. I will enjoy my prize now.'

'That little…' Kirito started but was interrupted

'It is not polite to eavesdrop Kirito. And yeah you aren't the only one around here with a maxed out searching skill.' She said and he could feel her smiling.

As much as he hated being tricked it was nice once in a while to hang out with friends. Keeping up an image all the time is really hard. He just wanted to relax with his friends. Maybe being in a dungeon fighting for your life isn't the best way but it was the best excuse and he didn't mind. They were all powerful enough so he didn't have to worry about them.

Kirito having been tricked sighed resigned. He took position as it would be a long night.

**6 hours later**

*Bip bip. Bip bip.*

Kirito looked down to the window that had just opened. It was a call from Azor.

Kirito was extremely bored at that point so he immediately pressed answer.

'Yes Azor. What is it?' He asked bored

'M-my Lord. I am truly sorry for the interruption but it is really important.' He said obviously shaken. That made Kirito's blood curl. He had programmed Azor to always be emotionless and steady. Why was he shaken?

'Azor, what happened?' Asked Kirito all signs of boredom having left his voice.

'Your sister my lord…'

'What about my sister?'

'She is… dead'

'WHAT? What do you mean she is dead? She was inside the guild planning everything, making preparations. She can't be dead. What are you talking about?' He shouted at the floating window

'My lord… she was murdered. Witnesses say they identified the trademark clothes of Laughing Coffin!'

Kirito was left speechless. The war hadn't started yet. Why did he hear that he had already lost a loved one? No this must be a dream. He must have heard this wrong. Something is up. It can't be.

'How do you know this?'

'Argo's NPC, Liara, just received the news.'

'How did they kill her? She is level 93 for fucks sake! What happened?'

'She went to negotiate with some guilds about their support but she got ambushed on the way back.'

'And where was that guild when she got attacked? Why didn't she get accompanied by members of our guild?'

'She was too far from their HQ to do anything and she specifically asked no one to accompany her except her own NPC in order to not draw attention. Her NPC is now MIA.'

Kirito knew all of it before Azor said it to him. It all made sense but that didn't change the fact that he had lost her. He had let down yet another person in this god forsaken game. Why had he agreed to leave her behind? Why? Why?

'My lord…' Kirito ended the call with a swipe of his hand. He wanted to be left alone. He then heard something behind him. A… sob?

He slowly turned around and saw that face. He froze. The face of a broken little girl. He couldn't move. Her eyes were wide and a desperate smile on her face.

'Kirito' She said in a voice ready to breakdown in tears. 'Who is dead Kirito?'

'…' Kirito couldn't answer. If he said it out loud it would become real. A fact. He wasn't ready for that yet.

'Kirito' She said again with a bit of deadly tone in her voice. 'Who died?'

'No one. Go…'

'DON'T LIE TO ME.' She screeched. She looked to the ground and closed her eyes. 'It is Leafa isn't it?'

'I…'

'ISN'T IT?'

'Y-yes'

Just like that she lost it. Suddenly she started running towards Kirito with her wooden staff at hand.

Kirito side stepped but she didn't care she kept running towards the door of the… Oh no.

'WAKE UP. QUICKLY WAKE UP. EVERYONE WAKE UP RIGHT NOW.' At the background of his voice a loud, high-pitched battle cry was heard but he didn't care.

The tents started stirring but it was too slow. He went inside the white tent, grabbed the both from the hands and dragged them both out. Then he blindly reached a hand inside the green tent and dragged Argo out too, apparently through her foot.

'What the hell Kiri…' Argo tried to say but was interrupted

'Equip your battle gear right now. We are going on the boss battle.'

'Wait a second. What…' Klein tried to say but was also interrupted

'No I won't wait a second. Leafa is already inside there and is fighting. We have to go, NOW'

Everyone looked confused but no one objected. They swiftly opened their menus and equipped their battle gear. When they were ready they stood up and starting running towards the door.

Kirito reached it first and tried to push it open but he couldn't. He started banging on the door with his fist shouting.

'SILICAAAAAAAAAAAA'

The door didn't budge.

He kept banging the door nevertheless. After half an hour when his fist connected the door flew open but he wished it hadn't.

Silica was standing still in the middle of a roman styled colloseum. next to a white clothed figure. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was her face. It was gleeful. She was overjoyed by something and although Kirito couldn't understand what this was really ran into this room with tears in her eyes and was now smiling her widest smile. Her life was at the red zone with 50 more hit points left.

Kirito ran to her, momentarily forgetting what was happening around him. He needed to heal her.

'SILICAAAAA' He shouted. Then Silica turned to him. If possible she looked even more wicked with her smile widening even further. Then she laughed. It was a laughter reserved for kids in the kindergarden when they saw their friends. It was innocent and happy and because of the situation it was absolutely terrifying He looked at her frozen.

'Kirito' She said like a five-year-old ready to ask a lollipop. 'Look, I beat the boss. Better yet, I tamed him.' That shook him a bit out of his stupor but he only managed to utter.

'What do you mean you tamed him?'

'Oh it was really hard. I went in and summoned Silica but she died while we were battling. I continued fighting and I managed to kill the boss and the boss drop was amazing. It was called the "Bridles of the Dead". I could tame any non player creature that I had killed so I chose the mimic.' She said excitedly

'Did you say mimic?'

'Yes.' She pointed at the white figure besides her. 'The mimic;

Kirito looked closer and couldn't conceive what he saw. It was his sister on a white summer dress. How could this be? Then he understood. The mimic. His "sister" was the mimic. Now he saw the proof. Her eyes looked angry yet scared of the girl in front of her. She had the slightest signs of a hump and she gave the aura of an animal.

Kirito vomited

**Flashback End**

After that they had left with her out of the dungeon but the moment they got out she tried to go find the LC members and kill them. She tried so hard they had to drag her back to the castle. When even then she didn't give up they locked her in the treasury. There she spent time battling her mimic in order for him to gain exp and reach Leafa's level. After a while she started attacking everyone that came inside there. Saying that they were traitors because they wouldn't let her have her revenge. He was still haunted by the time he went inside thereand her together with his "sister" attacked him before he even closed the door. He had been forced to lock her like an animal.

It hurt almost as bad as his sister's death and made him feel immeasurable guilt.

'KIRITO'

When he heard his name he snapped back into the real world. In front of him was Klein waving a hand in front of his face.

'Klein.' He said. His mind slowly cleared up.

'Kirito stand up. Pull yourself together.' Klein said almost angrily. Kirito started paying attention to his surroundings. He was surrounded by the dark spell. His unit. And… had they grown taller? No he was kneeling down. And his eyes were teary. He wiped his face and stood up.

**Be respectable. Be courage inducing. You are a leader. Act the part. I know that it is a lot to take in but right now you have to focus and absorb information. Push it all down. Silica, the images, the pain, the confusion. You have no right to break down now. Go on an expedition and vent it all into grinding but right now push-it-down.**

'Tell me that they didn't see me like that.' Kirito pleaded playfully. He had to keep it up. Keep up the act.

'Don't worry everyone is watching Kayaba. You got some strange looks but I told them that the headache hit you bad.' He said calmly

'I appreciate it.' He said in all honesty. 'Hey Klein…'

'Not now' He gestured behind him. 'He is about to start.' And with that he turned around to watch.

Kirito took a deep breath to calm himself. He looked carefully around and saw every person of the dark spell. He would have to calm them down after what they would hear the shocking news. He would make everything right. No one else would die.

He would find a solution about the problem with Silica. He would talk to her first thing when he got back. For now he just pushed it all down. Time to make the incoming news sound viable.

Kayaba started speaking.

'Welcome to the town of beginnings once more dear players' He said with a booming voice 'As many of you have probably noticed there has been an update recently. I have great news. In honor of the first war ever in this world I installed the last update ever to be created.'

People looked excited about this idea. It was about time the world stopped changing. They have had enough. Kirito was not thrilled. He knew this was one of those "quality over quantity" kind of cases and he knew there would be a catch. Apparently other people too had this idea as some flashed him some worried looks. He gave them a sign that everything was okay and not to worry. He could only wish he was right.

'This update shall put the final touches in my world. You are now walking in the perfected Sword Art Online. Now allow me to explain some things and listen carefully cause it will be your only chance to learn them.'

That last phrase spread a wave of worry through the crowd.

'To begin I would like to explain why you should listen to me. This world's game-like mechanics have permanently been banished. Part of what that means is that you no longer have menus, inventories HP bars, immortal items and other mechanics like this. That means that there will be no update message to study later on. So listen closely. Most things that up to now you have done through interface windows, like accepting quests, will now be done through voice commands. All your items from the inventory have been transferred inside your respectful quarters. For the few of you that don't have quarters the items will appear on the first room you enter. From now on you will have to carry everything manually.'

That earned a round of groans. That was a good sign. If they felt okay enough to joke like they just got extra homework that's good.

'Now there are three main things brought to you by this update. The first is the reason that I have to apologize to you. I am truly sorry for the pain you have suffered. But rest assured it was worth it. You see I removed the limiter. Before you could only do as you brain commanded you and perceive as much as he aloud. Now the nerve gear "helps" your brain act faster according to your level. Your senses, reflexes, speed, power and perception of time will all be judged by your stats in the game. Now as I have noticed some of the players with the highest stats have had trouble getting accustomed to this so I have a gift for them. For the people above level 90 there is a special code to reduce their stats to lower levels. Your stats will go down about 20 levels. Right now this is what is happening. Now know this. The pain that you felt was only temporary until your brain got accustomed to the NerveGear. The reason I am giving you this is not because of the pain but because due to enormous speed and strength stats you would have issues with daily things such as talking and controlling your strength to not break everything you touch. If you want to unleash your strength say burst while if you want to stop say freeze.'

That last part relaxed many high-level players who had felt that jolt of pain. No one wanted to feel that ever again.

'Now for the second reason. I have also removed the censorship.'

Kirito involuntarily gulped at that. So that's what he had seen at the treasury. But that meant that Silica...

**NOT NOW. DO YOU WANT TO RELAPSE? Think about all this in private.**

Right. He took another deep breath.

'From now on blood will be a part of SAO. And one more thing dismemberment will not heal. Anything that extensive treatment can't cure in the real world will not be able to be cured inside the game.' He paused in order to have everyone process this information.

'Lastly, for the sake of realism, there is one last characteristic that must be removed.' He said in a tone that showed disapointment, dropping the formalities just a bit. That made Kirito hair stand in attention. 'Your sword skills from now on are completely removed.'

That was the ending blow. Throughout the crowd everyone started commenting. Many shouted. Kirito made out some of it. 'What does that mean?' 'How will damage work now?' 'You bastard, give me back my upgrade points!'

And then there was quiet. Not a thing heard throughout the Plaza. Kirito looked at the hands of the administrator. There was a menu there. _Removing the menu from everyone but yourself, areyou Kaiba?_

'I am sorry for that but there is a need to explain and I believe that it wouldn't be heard through the noise. From now on, no movements will be made by the game. If you wish to use game skills that is fine _but_ you will have to execute them on your own. Passive skills will remain ofcourse intact. This will be the last menu that is opened in this world.' He mentioned gesturing his menu window while it closed.

'Now I will transfer everyone to your previous location in order to not inconvenience you since you are no longer in possession of your teleportation crystals. I wish you all good luck.' And with that everyone was engulfed in blue fire.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: FINALLY. The world building is complete. All the changes have happened and been explained. Time to dwelve deep into psychology, battle tactics, battle scenes and Gore. I know Silica may seem like an overkill to you but think this. She was betrayed by her party and left on that forest as a decoy and when Kirito and Suguha saved her she was in need of a person to find protection in so she chose the kind hearted sweet bright girl that saved her from the monsters and well when you base your whole psychology upon that and suddenly it is taken away from you you... well... crumble. She went in denial and trully did go "terminator mode" in order to remove herself from such a reality. More in-depth analysis will come when they finally open that door. Review if you believe this is wrong or bad but please make it constructive so that I may fix it. And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	10. Priorities and Ideologies

**Priorities and Ideologies**

**Kirito POV**

The blue flame didn't burn. It didn't even emanate heat. It was just there. The only way to perceive it was to see it.

And what a sight it was!

It was like a big tendril slowly rapped itself around the players and created a blue cocoon. Kirito's eyesight filled with blue for a bit and then it was gone.

Suddenly he didn't see the plaza and dumbfounded players. The only thing he saw was the secondary circle of leadership at the positions they were when they left and the door to the treasury room. The only change was that every weapon and armor they had equipped was now gone and they were all in simple beginner clothes but they didn't even seem to register that much.

They all looked stunned by the news. Kirito just stood there.

What had just happened? In less than 10 minutes the world was turned upside-down.

No menus? No inventories? No _sword skills?_ Upped sensations that are even better than the real world?

Last time in that plaza he had told them that the tutorial was over. If that was the end of the tutorial this felt like the end of the starter boost.

And the last part… no _censorship._

Right, cause simple death and psychological scarring wasn't enough.

_Let the others worry about all this. It's your job to worry about the others._ He thought.

'Klein' He said before he understood he did.

Klein seemed to break out of his stupor since his gapping mouth closed sharply and he shook his head.

'Y-Yes?' He asked still a bit dazed.

'We need to conference again. The rules have changed. We need to see to our tactics.' He said as evenly as he could. If Klein spotted Kirito was shaken, he didn't show it. In the meantime the rest of his friends seemed to break out of the shock.

'And what about Silica?' Asked Argo

She was right. What about her. He had postponed this confrontation way too long and… wait Silica was a player so she must have been in the plaza and heard everything. What was she thinking now?

_It can wait. We must help 3000 players. Silica wasn't a priority._ He pressed himself.

'Later. Now we have to see to the rest of the people here.' He said in a rush

'Are you serious? Had you seen her state of mind before the update? How do you think she will be now?' Kirito's fist clenched and he gritted his teeth while he turned his face away. 'We should…' She said annoyed but was interrupted

'You think I don't know that? You think I don't know that right now what was left of her sanity is flailing away? You think I don't feel the weight of what I am doing? You think there is a day passing by that I don't blame myself for her situation? Well learn that I do. But you know what? My sister left me with a guild to run. I may not have wanted in the beginning but now they are my family. Now I have to help and protect it. I want to help everyone and I sure as hell would rather die than let another person become a victim but I must set an order of things. Right now outside these walls our whole guild must be shaking with fear of the new and unknown. If we don't stop the fear now we might have more Silicas in our hands. Now if you don't want that to happen go and gather the leaders.' Finished Kirito so angry that he was at the verge of tears. But all his anger deflated immediately when he looked at Argo.

Argo had her eyes and fists clenched shut. She wasn't looking at Kirito. If Silica saw Suguha as a mother Argo and Silica were like sisters. After all under all the business-only attitude there was a 15 year old teenager. Because of that it was really hard on her to think of the state her "sister" was in. She never said it to Kirito but Kirito knew that she was extremely happy, and anxious, when Lizbeth told her to go with Kirito after the meeting to "open the door".

And now this was taken from her. She wasn't taking it well but it seemed that the extreme emotion subsided slightly and her business attitude took over. She opened her eyes and her muscles seemed to relax a bit. She gave a final, desperate look to the door as if begging it to open on its own and then turned back to Kirito with a half-serious, half-grieving face.

'Roger that.' She said. She was angry but she hid it well. She knew this was what had to be done but it didn't feel good. Kirito turned to everyone in the room.

'Okay. Everyone go and inform everyone that we will be having a meeting. Just leave Pontifex Maximus alone. I will see to it myself. Klein, stay a bit, will you?' All the co-leaders and NPCs started running down the corridor without a word except for Klein, leaving the two alone.

'Klein I want you to go and get your weapons and armor from your room. I want you to go and fetch Pontifex Maximus.' He said

'Okay, sure. But why me?' He asked

'Because you are the only person that is both a high level and human-looking. I don't know if he may try anything funny with the new status-quo. Equip your best items and _be careful.'_ He answered.

'You got it. But Kirito if there are no safe-zones anymore and anyone can attack anyone then you should equip too.' He said

'I know. Don't worry I will before I go to the round table. Now hurry ok? And if you see any other guild leaders in your way tell them too.' He ordered although the way he said it revealed just what this was. A plead from one friend to the other to get the snake out of the hole.

With that Klein took off. Kirito took a second before he started running too to his chambers.

Apparently Kayaba wasn't kidding about that stats limiter. Usually he would run in speeds barely traceable now he ran barely as fast as an Olympic athlete and as fast as that may be in the game it was a snails pace. When he reached his room he opened the door to an uncomfortable sight.

There, in a pile, was everything from his inventory. He cringed as the pile was twice as big in volume as him.

Thankfully Eludicator and Excalibur were on the top of the pile together with everything he had equipped last. He grabbed the swords and his trademark black coat. He almost tried to open the menu to equip them when he remembered in the middle of the motion that he had to equip them manually.

That would take some time to get used to.

He wore his coat and strapped the sheaths with the swords inside them on his back with the third try.

_Leather straps were a pain._ He concluded.

He glanced at the pile again and thought about getting the teleportation crystals. Then he thought about it again. The pile was full of edgy objects that he would have to be careful while disentangling. He could defend himself with the swords for now.

He ran out of his room and headed towards the meeting room.

_At least I don't get winded_. He thought.

He reached the conference room only to find a fully battle ready Asuna already there.

She snapped her head to him, more out of surprise than anything else.

'Well, aren't you the fast one.' He exhaled amused. Her look became confused.

'What do you mean?' She asked

'Well for Lizbeth to find you, tell you to come here and you equipping everything and getting here before me. That is indeed fast.' He complimented with a tone of surprise. She gave him an amused smile.

'I am not certain what you are talking about but I guess that you had the same idea as me. I also sent my NPC to gather the leaders to meet.' She said. Kirito was a bit surprised but more than that he made a memo that the girl in front of him was as good a leader as she was a fighter. He returned the amused smile and walked to his throne.

'So what now?' She asked.

'I guess we wait.' He answered

'And why waste the time we have?'

'Because no one is here yet.'

'So?'

'So we need make decisions together.'

'Why? Is the chaos and murmur helping us brainstorm? Why not talk about some ideas now while we have quiet?'

Kirito thought about it that was a good point.

'Okay then! May I start?' He asked

'Be my guest'

'So I was thinking we should recall the scouts.'

'No need, I couldn't gather them all in time before the update so they were never sent.'

'Okay then. Next we should calm down everyone. Lift their spirits.'

'How?'

'I have absolutely no idea. What I do know is that we need to do it as soon as possible. Do you have anything?'

'Maybe... You remember that thing at the plaza. I think we should do that just in a grander scale.'

'It was a speech that brought panic and a speech that can remove it, correct?' Said a new voice. It was Heathcliff. Both heads turned to him. 'Hello Kirito, Asuna.' He said turning his gaze to each of them. He then proceeded to take his seat. Dead silence filled the room. 'Please don't stop because I came. I find this conversation most useful and entertaining.' He said

'Okay then. As I was saying I think every guild leader should go and calm down his army the way he knows best. But I think that a speech would be most useful. To assure them that getting out of the game is still achievable.'

'Maybe that would work in your guild but in my guild we are really not into formalities. We are a family who is trying to stay alive while getting stronger. Getting out of the game is an afterthought. We aren't so much into empty words.'

'That's why I said each leader gets his guild. Just I think we should try to keep the context the same.'

'Agreed. We can get through this and win the war. That would be the best.' At that Asuna changed from amused and official to withheld furious.

'What did you say? The war? Are you crazy? We just learnt that almost every mechanic we knew changed and you think that this is a time to think of conflict and death?'

'And what do you propose?' Asked Kirito annoyed by her tone.

'That now more than ever we should send ambassadors to stop the killings. Did you hear what Kayaba said? Sword skills don't work. Most of the players right now won't know how to fight a level 1 boar let alone a player the same level as them.'

'Did you forget that the same circumstances apply to them? They won't know how to fight either.' Kayaba then spoke

'As probable as this is we cannot be certain. What if they have trained or had trained in real life on how to use weapons.'

'If we don't use our chances now they are going to prepare better. Do you remember who we are dealing with? Killing psychopaths. They liked killing before now that there is no censorship this will become a killing fest! Oh and guess what, there are no safe zones anymore.'

'Then we should protect the low levels.' Said Asuna. 'Provide Asylum in the headquarters, train; get accustomed to the new data.'

'And what about the war. Should we just leave them do as they please?'

'If nothing else we should postpone this. Don't let your personal feelings cloud your judgment, you are biased…' Kirito snapped and rose from his chair.

'BIASED? Have you taken a look outside these doors. There is a reason everyone, _including you_ , gathered here. There is a _need_ for vengeance, to avenge the fallen, our comrades, our friends, our _families._ So yes, maybe but I am not the only one. I am not the only person who has lost loved ones to those psychopaths. And I sure as hell ain't the only one out for them!'

'We will calm them down. All of them. It is you who didn't look out of those doors. People are panicking. Their survival instinct is taking over. The fact that they had prepared themselves for war before doesn't mean they are now. They need to still themselves in front of the new data, they must train, so-we-must-postpone-the-war! ' She said emphasizing every word. Kirito fell back to his throne.

He wanted to retort. He wanted to end this. But he knew she was right. He remembered Klein from earlier. He then compared him to the Klein after the update. His hatred had been dumpened. If he, with everything he had seen, could be swayed then the rest must be on the verge of surrendering to Laughing Coffin's mercy. He reminded himself of his responsibilities and remembered his most important duty to his guild.

'As long as you can guarantee that no one else gets killed. This is the highest priority.' He said at last.

'We will try but the highest priority isn't to protect everyone. It is to get out of the game.'

'What's the point of getting out of the game if you are dead?'

'For once we agree!' Said a new voice. It was Pontifex Maximus. 'But that's just one step away from the right question. What is the point of getting out alive if we have lost out humanity? We should try to retain our humanity more than anything. A war takes ones humanity away. Even if it is with fiends. And make no mistake the killers of laughing coffin are nothing more than vile beasts. Killers can no longer be seen as humans. I only agreed to come here because I wanted the deaths to stop.'

'That's just rich coming from you. Had you taken a look at your cursor before it disappeared? It was orange. That means you had hurt players.'

'Indeed. Players, not humans. They had renounced their humanity.'

'You are the definition of shallow. They just appear inhuman. If you remember our real bodies are not these.' He said angrily gesturing at himself

'Correct yet again. But, you see I believe these are our souls. After all what would you call our conscience outside our body?'

'DEAR GOD, HOW DERANGED CAN YOU BE?' Said Asuna. 'Stopped flailing around your baseless theories and excuses. The people you hurt were humans. You were wrong to do what you did to them and the only reason I don't do what you did to them is that you didn't cross the final line. Had you done that I promise you would get the same treatment as Laughing Coffin.'

'Then I am glad I didn't. After all I'd hate to hurt a fellow human. Especially such an honorable one as yourself who sees humanity even in these monsters.'

Kirito just hated this kind of people. One ideal that is stuck in their head and nothing can change it. Reason is useless and if he wasn't certain that intimidation was too he would have used it. But right now he tried to contain his rage at being called a monster and continue.

'So what are you going to tell your guild?' Asked Kirito

'Easy. That we should continue help each other through these hard times and that the lord will help us get out of this game.'

'No mention of the war?'

'Ofcourse not! We must first see the reaction of the opposing side to the new data before we act.'

'That settles it then the war shall be postponed.' Said Hithcliff

'You are all going to regret this.' Said Kirito quietly

'Now back to the priority. We must calm the people down.' Said Heathcliff. If he had heard the last comment he had decided to ignore it.

'I don't know what you will say but I will just tell them that the war will be postponed so we will fortify ourselves and train to get accustomed. If we get stronger everything will be just fine and that will calm them down.' Kirito said

'If you believe that will work then I have no say in it. As for us we are going to leave the castle within the week. We have to gather the low levels to our HQ. If nothing else there is strength in numbers and we need numbers to get out of the game. Our members band together because of this common desire and that's what will rise the morale' Said Asuna

'Our doors are always open for refuge but I believe that now is the time to test the new mechanics. We shall research it and share our results. Knowing helps so that's what we will do. After all we enjoy the game as much as we can. We don't want to get out of the game and feel like we have just lost years of our life.' Said Hithcliff

'Well then as for us we will just protect whoever seeks asylum and with the help of god we will protect the people.' Said Pontifex while Kirito gritted his teeth at the hypocrisy.

'Alright then. Let's just hear what the other guilds have to say before everyone goes their separate ways.' Said Asuna

The room suddenly filled with all the guild leaders and lieutenants. Four of them stood forward. The one on the left was a man, at his late 20 with bulky build, Caucasian skin and a double headed axe strapped on his back. He had a serious look. Right next to him was a thin female druid around her thirties with glasses, short black hair, a white mantle and a dagger strapped on her hip. She had an ice cold poker face. The next one was a man in his forties with a suit. He was a bit obese and had a huge smile on his face. He had a hammer strapped to his back. Last was a boy no older than thirteen wild a one handed sword on his hip, short spiky hair and a mischievous smile on his lips. The bulky man spoke

'We heard the whole conversation and we, as the ambassadors of the smaller guilds, have a request.' He said 'Please provide us asylum and in return we will become part of your guilds.' He said

That caught all four of them by surprise. But it wasn't such a bad idea as everyone contemplated upon it. Kirito spoke first

'My guild only accepts the inhuman classes.' He said

'Then take the inhuman members.' Said the druid

'If you become part of my guild you will have to follow my orders.' Said Hithcliff

'That's a small price to pay for our safety.' Said the obese man.

'Gladly.' Said Asuna.

'Thanks.' Said the boy

'I shall not take any inhumans.' Said Pontifex.

'That will be no problem.' said the bulky man.

The four leaders looked to each other and knew what the decision was.

'We accept!'


	11. Doubts and Reconciliations

 

**Doubts and Reconciliations**

**Kirito POV**

All four looked as if they were seeing ghosts. They obviously didn't even come close to predicting this kind of outcome

The youngest of the 4 stepped forward obviously puzzled.

'Wait, that's it? You accept to put yours and your comrade's lives at risk with just these terms in place?'

Now it was the four leader's time to be puzzled. Asuna spoke

'What do you mean? We would try to help anyway! We have been going public with information for months now. Why wouldn't we help?' She said

'But this is different. We are asking you to provide us with food, shelter, protection from an impending war. This greatly exceeds anything that you may have done up until now.' Said the bulky man.

'Well, that is true but some circumstances have changed too. There are no longer safe zones. The safe zones were a kind of shelter before. Now there is no such thing and it would be inhuman to not provide a helping hand to our fellow humans.' Pontifex answered.

'And it isn't pure altruism either. You are increasing both the numbers and power of our respective guilds. You are being provided with better chances of survival but you are expected to help anyway you can. That is why I said you will have to follow my orders. You aren't going to be freeloaders.' Continued Heathcliff in a matter-of-fact tone.

'But we thought that you didn't care for us lower levels. You, the four Kings, are the unofficial leaders of the clearing group. You never come in contact with us. You had left us with no word for half a year now.' Said the druid

The "four kings" looked at each other struggling to make sense of what they were just told. Kirito spoke.

'Wait, what did you call us?' He asked

'The four kings. That's what they call you on the lower floors.' Continued the druid.

'Since when? Why Kings?' Asked Kirito again struggling to make sense of it.

'W-Well your guild called you and your… sister king and queen so one day we just started calling all of you the five... now four, Kings since you were the strongest players.' Said again the druid, seemingly afraid to mention his sister. Kirito on the other hand barely felt the usual sadness at her mention as he was preoccupied with the insensitive image he had built up. 'Kirito, King of strength. Suguha, Queen of compassion. Asuna, Queen of conviction. Heathcliff, King of discipline and Pontifex Maximus, King of faith.' She listed

'Look, nicknames aside, we left you on the lower floors because we didn't want to force you to endanger yourselves. At times some guilds may have asked for your help in kind of financial support.' At that Asuna winced. 'But we didn't want to force you into danger. The fact that we didn't contact you for some months wasn't because we didn't care; it was because we had nothing to say.' He said trying to fix the misunderstanding. 'And I think you have all forgotten something. In real life we are not more important than you. Not one bit. If anything I am going to senior high school after all this is over while you may go back to running giant corporations. I have never considered myself more important than yours.' He said. It was half the truth though, as even though he didn't find his own life so valuable he found the lives of his comrades 10 times as important as the rest.

The four representatives, now, with all their worries and doubts answered and put to rest were openly tearing up. The surprise came from the cold druid who seemed the most touched of them all. Her eyes were letting rivers out while she hopelessly tried to wipe the tears away.

Kirito wondered what kind of behavior she had been subjected to because of the two clicks she made in the beginning to choose her race. At that his thoughts turned to a certain "King" beside him.

His thoughts were suddenly thrown back into the girl in front of him as she bowed down on all fours, forehead on the floor, and started thanking them.

'Thank you. Thank you very much. You have no idea what this means to us. When we heard there would no longer be safe zones we were on the verge of breaking down. We would be at the mercy of monsters and killers. Thank you so much.' Said the druid in between sobs.

Kirito's body moved on its own. He quickly got up from his throne and all but ran towards the bowing woman. When he towered above her he abruptly stopped and she slowly looked up with a face that conveyed respect bred by thankfulness. He stood there for a second. His face an unreadable mask.

Then he neeled down, grabbed her from the shoulders and pulled her towards him. In the beginning she reflexively tried to push him away but then she let go.

'What's your name?' He whispered in a serious tone that made her tense inside his embrace.

'Yin.' She said breathlessly

'Well Yin, your comrades trusted this negotiation to you, which means that they see you as a person that can be depended upon. They have based their hopes on you and they will continue to look up on you for the next month while they get accustomed to the guild.' He said seriously before changing to a more compassionate tone. 'I know how overwhelming this can be but for their sake I need you to act it cool. Just the way you did 5 minutes ago. Can you do this for me?' He asked feeling a pang of guilt because he was forcing her to suppress her reactions and act it out. He knew how hard this was from experience. He still remembered how much time it took him to master it but it had to be done.

He felt her nod.

'Okay' he said and they both got up. Her face was the cold mask that had gritted him but her eyes this time showed respect. He mouthed a quick thank you and walked back to his throne.

'Now if all this is over I think that we need to inform everyone of the results.' Said Heathcliff seemingly amused by the outcome.

'There is no need for that.' A new voice was heard through the crowd that blocked the entrance to the room. It was Keita's. He swiftly walked through the crowd and stopped when he was standing 5 steps ahead of it. 'The news have spread from mouth to mouth to everyone inside these walls.' He announced and then paused. Seemingly uncertain of how to continue. 'So, is it true? Are you going to be our new guild master?' He asked with a tone that betrayed nothing.

Kirito was hit by this realization. If he took all the inhuman races then the moonlight cats would come too. This was a bad situation and he had no idea how to play this out. Could he really lead his guild? He had already let them down once. He decided to leave the choice up to him.

'Only if you wish it so.' He said hesitantly

Everyone, including Keita, seemed taken aback by the answer since they knew the past they shared. Keita's fists clenched but his eyes went to the floor. When his voice was heard it sounded grieving.

'Kirito it is no secret that I have held you responsible for what happened half a year ago.'

'I know.' Said Kirito in an understanding tone.

'I threw you and your sister out of the guild; I have drawn your name through the mud. I have done everything I could to make your life miserable.'

'I know.'

Keita then raised his gaze to Kirito. Anger born from illogical circumstances filling his eyes.

'So why? Why would you come to our rescue after you got blamed for all this time? Why would you take us under your wing? WHY WOULD YOU SAVE US?' Shouted Keita exasperated

'Because I understand the feeling you have. I can't hate you for blaming me when I blame myself too. And if you continue to do so even after you get inside the guild I still won't blame you.' Said Kirito with a tranquil, sad tone.

Keita hesitated to answer. But when he did all anger had fled from his eyes. It looked as if some hatred he held inside him had fled.

Kirito briefly wondered if he also looked like that now that he carried the burden of a vengeance inside him but the thought got an answer before it even got developed. The answer was simple.

_I don't care._ And how could he care about how he looked and acted when his sister had been killed and he didn't even know her murderer. No. No matter how I look and act I will first seize vengeance. His thoughts were interupted by Keitsa who started speaking.

'No this has gone on for two long. We were all to blame.' Keita walked up to the throne and reached out his hand. 'May this be the beginning of a more permanent comradeship! For us _and_ our friends.' He said

Kirito took his hand and smiled. 'I hope that too.'

The moment was broken off by Asuna. 'Okay this is great and all, but we all have to get back to our guilds to barricade them from the attacks.'

'I understand. But before that I want you to promise me something.' Kirito said officially and stood up 'If any one of us gets attacked in the foreseeable future the rest will stop whatever they are doing and run to his aid.'

'That didn't even need to be asked.' Said Asuna

'By all means. Our target should be to clear the game after all.' Said Heathcliff

'Well, well, it would seem we have an alliance in our hands.' Said Pontifex

'I guess we do.' Said Kirito. 'When will you be leaving?' He asked.

'As soon as we can.' Said Asuna.

'Then may you be safe.'

'Thank you.'

'Excellent, now that everything has been settled it is time to gather up.' Said Heathcliff and called his bodyguard with a hand sign.

The bodyguard was a man with pony-tailed, long, black hair. He looked to be in his early twenties, but due to the wrinkles on his face, he looked much older. He wore a standard white and red KoB uniform with a white and red, metal chest plate, greaves and shoes, as well as white metal bracers, brownish-gray gloves and a white cape.

He bowed next to Heathcliff's chair and he whispered something to him. Kirito guessed this was along the lines of gather everyone up. Asuna did the same but the person that Kirito saw bowing down next to Asuna made him gulp.

Why was she here? She was MIA. She shouldn't be here! She should be in the possession of LC. Through all his thoughts only one word left his mouth.

'Aika?'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Aaaaaaaaand cut. How many of you saw the last part coming and who can guess who Heathcliff's bodyguard is? Please review and tell me your opinions or if you think I messed up some part of the lore cause I love reviews. They are way better than favorites and follows cause you understand through the good reviews why your story is good and through the bad reviews I understand what to correct. Also I made a small correction in the third chapter and Kirito doesn't have the Excalibur but the dark repulser. Sorry for changing something this far back but I wanted to use the Excalibur later on. And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	12. Blame and Traitors

 

**Blame and Traitors**

**Asuna POV**

Asuna heard the name of her NPC being spoken breathlessly from her left. She violently snapped her head to the left from where she had heard it only to see their host in shock.

Kirito was kneeling down in front of his throne, one hand grasping his chest seemingly unable to take a breath while the other was on the ground to keep him upright. Keita, who hadn't made it back to the crowd after their handshake, was hovering over him, patting him in the back and asking him what is wrong.

Kirito slowly started taking ragged breaths. He slowly pulled his hand that was on the floor and tried to stand only to unwillingly fall into Keita's hands.

'Why…' He tried to speak but his ragged breathing stopped him. He waited a bit to even out. The whole room was silent. They all watched Kirito and waited to see what pushed him to such an extreme. The "Kings" stood up in order to be ready for anything.

Kirito straightened up with difficulty, disentangling himself from Keita, and raised his gaze from the floor to Asuna. The look on his eyes made Asuna instinctively reach for her rapier. When she saw that made him tense she reluctantly took her hand away and let it hang. Kirito took one last deep breath before he spoke.

'Why is Aika with you?' Asked Kirito in a dead serious tone. Although his voice was relatively calm it boomed inside the silent room like a cannonball.

Asuna, now making certain that it was he who had mentioned the NPC's name, just stood there. She wasn't certain what to say but from his eyes she knew that if she didn't answer quickly he was ready to reach any extremes to get it.

'She was given to me.' She said evenly, proud that she managed to keep her tone even through all the knots she felt forming in her stomach in front of the furious powerhouse in front of her.

'By who?' Said Kirito his tone the same but some impatience had crept inside it.

'She was appointed as my servant by Thinker.' She said quickly. She saw the next question coming and she knew she wouldn't have an answer for it. She started looking around, hoping someone would jump in to stop this situation from getting out of hand but no one moved. Everyone _seemed_ ready to move should the need arise but Asuna had seen the capabilities of Kirito's Avatar in battle. When the need came it would be too late.

'And was that NPC created in your guild?' He asked with the slightest signs of hesitation restraining him in his voice though his face showed no such thing. If anything it showed a man trying to hold back himself from moving. Asuna for the first time in her life was truly afraid of another human.

The human being in front of her had taken huge amounts of punishment from everyone for so many reasons and held a grudge to no one. Not the people that hated him for being a beater, not to the person that blamed him and ridiculed him for being unable to save one person, not even to herself because she gave false information that lead to the death of his friends. If anything he blamed himself for being unable to save her friends. He was a person that she aspired to become but right now that image of a "saint" was being burnt away by the mere look of his eyes.

He looked dangerous. He looked possessed. He looked merciless. He looked psychotic. He looked _deadly._

And the worst part? She didn't have the slightest idea what made him switch gears.

'I-I don't know.' She stuttered lightly.

'And who does?' He asked harshly to the first question that didn't get answered. That made Asuna's heart jump a beat since she knew that if he asked more information and she was unable to give it to him he would stop holding back.

'Probably Thinker.' She said in all honesty.

'Could you please call him then?' Asked Kirito with obvious forced politeness

'No, I-I can't! We no longer have that mechanic in the game.' She said, her inner emotions of fear starting to get the better of her. She tried to berate herself for it but the scolding was drowned in the waves of fear that she felt getting the better of her.

'May I ask why are you acting like this, Kirito?' A new voice broke in. It was Heathcliff who was seemingly unaffected by the climate inside the room. Kirito shifted his gaze to Heathcliff. When they locked eyes his gaze hardened more.

'Like what?' He asked offended.

'Like that.' He said and pointed at him. 'Like you are ready for a fight. Like you are ready to fight. Like you are about to _kill_ someone.' He said I a matter-of-fact tone.

'Oh' He said in mock confusion before dropping the act lightning fast returning to his deadly attitude. 'That would be because my _dead_ sister's NPC, who may I note was with her the day she was attacked, is standing next to our fellow "King" and is taking orders from her.' He said and silence spread inside the room once more.

A bead of sweat starting forming in Asuna's forehead. He didn't need to explain anything else. She now understood everything. The shock, the confusion, the deadly eyes. He thought that she had killed his sister and taken her NPC as he own. It was possible.

When a player died, if you had sufficient money, you could reclaim the NPC within the next 24 hours before he or she were deleted. In his eyes she was his sister's murderer.

This was really bad.

The whole room suddenly exploded with murmurs. They had all started suspecting her. Kirito's guild especially had the same look he held. The idea that their co-leader's murderer was in front of them had them all on edge.

Asuna quickly looked at Kirito.

'I am not your sister's murderer.' She half shouted over the noise. That seemed to take him aback. He turned to her confused.

'I never believed you could be. Her death was less than a week ago and up until 2 hours ago you were a green player. Not even orange. That means you couldn't have laid a hand on her.' He said seriously. That made Asuna relax just a little bit. 'That said,' She tightened up again. 'It means that you or someone within your guild is at the very least _affiliated_ with Laughing Coffin.' He said, his features hardening once more. 'This isn't a much lighter accusation'

'Thinker will be able to answer. If you only allow us to go back and-'

'Absolutely not. What if the person with these affiliations escapes while you go back?'

Asuna didn't know what to answer at that. She understood he was correct but there was too much at stake right now.

'But our highest level players are here!' She said anxiously. 'What if our HQ gets raided? We have to return now to-'

'Would you do it?' Said Kirito quickly and flatly

'Huh?' Asked Asuna not understanding the question.

'Would you allow the possible murderer of the person that meant the world to you flee? Imagine the person closest to you. The person you care about the most, the person who understands you, who _gets_ you…the person you reply on, love the most.'

Asuna felt bitter inside she didn't have anyone like that in her life. Her mother was cold and calculative. Her father saw her as something he owned. Outside this game she didn't have any real friends. She had no one that fitted that description but through the emotion in his voice she could see what kind of feeling he was talking about.

'Now imagine that that person has been murdered that one time you couldn't protect her. That you can never see that person again. That she was taken from you. And then you see a person that may be the culprit. Would you be able to allow him to just walk away before being absolutely certain that he is innocent beyond any doubt?' The pain in his voice was soul crashing. She understood now that she couldn't even imagine the turmoil he was going through

Asuna wanted to say yes. She needed to say yes but she couldn't. After what she heard she couldn't believe that she would be able to do that.

'No, I wouldn't!' She answerer grimly.

His mouth opened to say something but closed again.'I didn't think so.' He muttered under his breath. 'I will send an envoy from my guild to fetch Thinker. They will be here in less than an hour. Can you at least postopone your return for that much?' He asked but his tone was a clear order. Asuna sympathized.

'We will!' She said

'Thank you' Kirito answered with honest gratefulness in his voice.

'NO NO NO!' Shouted a new voice. A very high pitched, wicked voice! 'YOU IDIOTS! THAT IS NOT HOW THIS PLAYS OUT!' Asuna scanned where it came from. It was from Heathcliff's direction but it wasn't Heathcliff. It was his bodyguard. He was looking at Kirito, arms flailing and eyes widened. 'YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KILL EACH OTHER. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KILL ASUNA AND HER GUILD WOULD TRY TO KILL YOU. HOW WEAK CAN YOU BE? DO YOU EVEN FEEL ANYTHING FROM YOUR SISTER'S DEATH? DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU WANTED REVENGE?' He asked furious that they hadn't killed each other.

'Kuradeel, what's the meaning of this?' Asked Heathcliff from where he was standing giving a sideways glance to his bodyguar. Kuradeel turned to him.

'SHUT UP!' A sword found its way to where Heathcliffs neck was a second ago, slashing the back of the chair two. Asuna didn't even see him pull his sword. Heathcliff got up from the floor where he had fallen and got his shield from his back. 'I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!' He slashed at his shield. 'Poh had me be a spy for way too long.' Again 'You are insufferable.' Again 'You are bossy, stuck up and a slave driver.' With every phraze he rose and lowered his sword to the shield. The shield though remained immovable, not even recoiling. He sighed. 'I guess the "perfect defence" still stands after the update.' He put his hands on his temples and rubbed them as if he had a headache while turning to Kirito again. 'I still can't believe that not a single drop of blood was dropped today. Are you brain-dead?' He asked as if he was talking to a person with special needs.

'Wuld that mean you are a spy from laughing coffin?' Asked Kirito while reaching for the hilt of eludicator. Kuradeel tensed and frowned.

'Me?' He pointed at himself. 'Yes, I am Kuradeel of Laughing Coffin.' He raised his sleeve and showed a tattoo of a coffin with a big smile. 'Are you so stupid you couldn't even figure that out?'

The two men stood still for a second in a stare down. Kirito's stare left Kuradeel for just a second and his body tensed before relaxing completely. His hand that was on his hilt fell on his side. He then gave him a malevolent grin.

'Just making certain.' He said simply. Kuradeel's dumbfounded expression looked as though the world had just lost all reason for the man. His face was distorted with furious confusion when he spoke.

'WHAT? You won't even fight _me?'_ He gave a cold laugh. 'You know, when I was told that war was coming I was a bit afraid but _now..._ now seeing what the leadership of the enemy consists of I understand. This will be a very one-sided battle.' He said gesturing at the four. 'When we win this war remember my name because I will have given them all the information you have told today. And you know the best part? I was the one that gave them the information about your sister too.' Kirito's fists tightened into fists but he didn;t make a move, 'My last job was to transfer information about her.' He said and pointed at Aika. 'But it seems this is a dead end since all of you are FUCKING WEAKLINGS! Now if you will excuse me I don't like my odds against the whole army so I will take my leave a bit earlier!' He said and quickly reached for a teleportation crystal.

Time slowed down as Asuna saw him grab the crystal.

Kuradeel started raising the crystal to his mouth but mid motion his arm slowed down until it stopped. And then it started falling until it reached the ground, the crystal still in its fist.

Asuna saw the bigger picture. The hand was no longer a part of Kuradeel's body. It was cut and he hadn't even realized it yet if his wide smile was anything to go by.

Kuradeel slowly turned his head to the fallen arm, his smile instantly evaporating. He turned his gaze to his shoulder where only his arm from the elbow up still stayed attached.

Then blood started spurting out like a geyser and Kuradeel lost it.

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH' He screamed while grasping the leftovers of his arm and screaming. He fell on his back and started rolling around. Over him stood a short girl with brown hair and whiskers that held a short katana stained with blood. There was something weird though. The girl was blurry. She was standing still but her whole body looked as if it made a thousand movements at once, all while staying on the same spot. A blood red crescent shape appeared out of nowhere and on the floor Kuradeel stopped wailing. His face now caved in and bleeding. He had passed out.

Dead silence.

'Thank you Argo.' Said Kirito, breaking the silence 'If I had done it I don't know if I would have been able to stop with something this light.' He continued grimly

A sound came from her but it felt like a voice that was played on x10 speed. Then a word was clearly heard.

'Freeze' She said and suddenly the blurring ceased. 'Youare welcome. It really wasn't easy. We should probably stop his bleeding though if you want to get any information out of him.' She said in a failed attempt to be jovial as her smug smile melted away when she gagged, seemingly to not puke.

'Get him to the infirmary. He will be useful. Whether he wants it on not!' Said Kirito coldly.

Argo opened her mouth to retort that someone else could do it. She was obviously disqusted by her work but she didn't want to show weakness. She closed her mouth again. 'Okay.' She said unwillingly

She grabbed the unconscious body from the waist and lifted him from the pool of his own blood that had been formed. The smell of iron made evryone wrinkle their noses, not because it smelled badly but because of what it symbolised. She tossed him over her shoulder.

'Burst' Was the last thing that was heard of her before she sprinted towards the crowd, disappearing once she reached them.

After she disappeared Kirito clicked his tongue and sighed. He mumbled something along the lines of 'I would give up my position for one day to go as planned.' He then turned to Heathcliff who was only now lowering his shield.

'I will guess that you knew nothing of it, Heathcliff.' Half-stated, half-questioned Kirito in a tone made of steel.

'No. No I did not!' Said Heathcliff with a hint of anger. If Asuna had to guess she would say that he wasn't used to being tricked.

'Then this meeting is adjourned.' Kirito said seriously and then broke a small smile. 'Have a safe road to your HQs!'

And then everyone screamed in horror!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N.: And that kids is what happens when you get psychotic and cocky. So don't be like Kuradeel and don't blow your cover just cause you are a bit more angry at one person. Anyway how did you like that chapter? I didn't like it. I couldn't find an adequate way to continue afterthe part where Asuna agrees to wait for thinker. And then my hatred for Kuradeel surfaced and I just wrote it the way it came. I am not really satisfied with it but well... now it's posted. And why are there literally no reviews? Are my chapters really with nothing worth mentioning? Come on give me my high. I want to know what you think of this story. And as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	13. Isolation and Illusions

 

**Isolation and Illusions**

**Prisoner POV**

Away from the court intrigue, in a room filled with gold and legendary treasures sat a brown-haired girl.

Countless swords and armors that were more accurately describe as pieces of art rather than tools meant to kill hang upon the golden, glowing walls. A treat normally not allowed the eyes of those that dwelt within reality but here in this place, it was allowed to her. Though even with the beautiful view around her, she was disallowed the presence of comfort and awe that one would be given to seeing the heavens displayed before them.

She sat with her back to the wall. One hand tightly gripped at her wooden staff, the other writting with every detail the character and memories of her familiar, her unblinking eyes staring at the wall of text. Her eyelids were heavy, tight with fatigue and yet when she closed her eyes it was not sleep she was granted, for a nightmare was not the word one could describe what crossed her mind; no word had been made to describe the hell within her mind. Even then, if she closed her eyes and attempted it, sleep would never come.

How long had it been? Days, weeks, months, years? She had not known sleep, never once he was granted respite from her own mind since the day she was locked inside this prison alone, a lifetime ago.

And were that the only thing, she may be able to bear it unaided, yet it wasn't her only foe. For every night, as she sat and waited once more for her servant to be resurrected and fight her once again, tendrils of light in its purest form, surrounded her, plagued her – felt her out, seeking to latch onto her and drag her away. She knew that it was real, that she wasn't just seeing light moving within shadows due to her sleep denied mind. The light before her was alive with her. It writhed and languished within the dark as its only respite was if it found her, and she knew it.

That moving, transforming light wasn't just some fickle thing of her imagination. It was the avengers of the Heavens, the angels of death allowed to from the sky to punish the sinners. The angry ethereals that sought revenge against her, the one that was ungrateful and couldn't return the gift that she was given. The angels wanted to have her pay for allowing her savior to be slain. Their voices echoed from the light, invading her mind and causing her to draw further within herself, begging the voices to be stop as the edges of her sanity was torn apart.

Every wound she possessed, they would assault, be they scars or fresh. Each burn, each cut, they all burnt with the hatred and fury of the purification. She was rotten inside and the light burnt her. They would never forgive her for her sins and reveled in her pain, she knew. And one day, she would allow those tendrils to latch onto her, to tear her from limb from limb. To claim the soul they so fervently desired to take with them to their final destination so that she may finally rest.

But that wouldn't happen. Not until the one thing that kept herm going. The one thing that kept her alive was dead. Her hand reached up, to grasp yet again at the dirty and withered charm around her neck. Every time she touched it, a gentle numbness gave her heart strength enough to continue her fight, to continue her crusade against those that sought to harm those she so dearly loved. It was that very numbness that kept her very core, her very heart from surrendering to the warmth that wished for her death.

But although the angels were being heard from the light they weren't the light themselves. The light itself was her savior who had now become her bain. The light whispered in her ears. She wanted vengeance. She wanted the life she was refused and most of all she wanted the lives of her killers. The light had taken her over more than once but its influence was at its strongest when she could actually do something. When Azor brought in that laughing coffin member she could do nothing.

The light went inside her and made her kill the player and she could do nothing about it.

She repeated that in her mind. She repeated that in her isolation in hope that one day she could believe this and forgive herself.

The only person that the light didn't want to hurt was the shadow. The black clad figure that put her inside here. It was the brother of the light and the light still loved him.

The light resented the fact that she had left him alone. The light wanted to spend more time with him. To protect him, laugh with him, have fun with him, love him and it killed her that she couldn't.

The last time she had seen him the light had flown inside her. She had tried to hug him when he drew his sword and defended himself. She didn't understand it. Why did the shadow defended against his sister? And why did he defend against Silica too? Why had he locked her inside here where there was no shadow for her to hide? Why had he betrayed her?

As the hours passed she leaned further against the rock wall, feeling her tired shoulders sag. It had been so long since she knew sleep, since she knew a respite from her fatigue. Perhaps tonight, as she always hoped every night, she would be granted sleep within the darkness. And just like every night, she would be denied, until the reason she was like this was revived and attacked her. She would rise against her and she would yet once more begin the self-imposed crusade.

Gripping her staff tighter to her, she gently closed her eyes as she did not sleep and dashed once more against her familiar. If she couldn't revive her she would build her from zero again and have her take revenge.

And so once again she fought. She would create her again. It would all go back as it was. She would make it that way.

A single tear was shed from her eye.

'Suguha… I am so sorry!'


	14. War and Gravity

 

**War and Gravity**

**Kirito POV**

The situation was bad!

Heathcliff was still shaken by the attack from his ex-bodyguard, Asuna was uselessly telling everyone to calm down and Pontifex was preoccupied with a prayer for the blood spilt with a smile on his face.

And Kirito?

Kirito was just too pissed off on the insolence of that pig, Kuradeel, to give a fuck.

That fool had come inside their territory, had attacked one of the four "Kings", Kirito rolled his eyes still not comfortable with his nickname, and he had publicly admitted he had sold information about his sister which led to her death. Oh yes… and he thought he would set a foot outside, alive, after that!

In short, he was fucked!

Kirito would make him feel as much pain as the sensors allowed before he killed him and even if he didn't he would leave him to his guild members which didn't make much difference. The only major one was that Kirito would also get information out of him before that!

A scream broke through his shield of concentration and he refocused on the current situation. People were running back where they came for in order to get away from the scene of the dismemberment with Asuna still pleading them to come to their senses. Kirito briefly thought about how this was just like what his sister would do… but his sister had more influence and it would have worked while now Asuna was heard by few.

Kirito wondered what to do! He couldn't sooth their fear and anger; he simply didn't know how to do that! He could force them to calm down but that would be a very short term solution.

So what could he do?

And then an idea popped inside his head. If he couldn't calm them down then he would just redirect and reform their emotions!

He started breathing in and out slowly. _What are you afraid of? Just do it already!_ The emotional part of him whispered just two words in the back of his head as an answer. _The pain_. He knew that deep inside he was afraid the horrific pain from last time. His teeth gritted and his fists clenched.

This was weakness! Through all his ingame power this was a sign of weakness. He would not allow it to prevail. With one last deep breath he tightened up, prepared for a sudden flow of pain and said it through his teeth!

'Burst' and suddenly the world was _different_!

Everything stood still, the voices seemed to go down a few octaves, probably because he perceived them much quicker, the colors started seem livelier and the world became more detailed. He didn't feel any pain, if anything he felt euphoria.

He tried to take a step but instead he reached the middle of the room, slamming onto the round table and breaking it but he felt nothing. No pain, no especial pressure, nothing to show he came into a high-speed collision course with an ex-immortal object.

This was way more than he had expected. He understood there would be some power-up but this was extraordinary. He had almost forgotten about all the people panicking in the room until he heard a voice.

'Extraordinary, isn't it?' Said the voice in awe.

Kirito snapped his body around and as a result the stone ground bellow him cracked, as if it was made out of glass!

'Easy there! You have way too many points into the STR to be moving carelessly!' Said the voice. Kirito now started recognizing it. It was Asuna.

'How are you-'

'Here?' She completed amused 'I just saw you disappear and I knew you said burst so I did the same. I wanted to talk a little without everyone around. And I wanted to test out this new skill too.' She said with a playful smile

Kirito thought about it for a bit but then shot it down.

'I have to calm everyone down!' He half-lied as his plan was a bit different. Asuna raised an open palm towards him.

'A, that can wait! We are perceiving time several hundred times faster than they do if their speed of movement is anything to go by! We can speak here for a whole day and barely 3 minutes will have passed. And B, don't do that!' He said but it didn't feel like an order. More like a phrase to make him curious, to hear what she had to say and on that respect it worked on Kirito. He decided to play along!

'And why shouldn't I?' Kirito asked

'Because Laughing Coffin is dangerous!'

'You don't say!' Said Kirito in a very foul mood. He was telling them all along and all they did was ignore him and now, suddenly, once they felt how dangerous they are, with not even one death, _now_ they understood!

'You don't get it do you?' Said Asuna with a smug smile 'If they are so relaxed about openly admitting they killed your sister _inside your HQ_ they are ready for war! It wouldn't surprise me if they were attacking the other HQs right now!'

'Wait, you understood that now?' Asked Kirito incredulously 'I was trying to tell you that from the moment we began talking but you didn't listen. You kept talking nonsense about how the people didn't want war and that the LC members would lose their courage because of the update. Did you not hear me when I was telling you they are _fucking crazy_?'

'YES, WE HEARD YOU!' Asuna exploded 'We heard everything and we ignored it! Here now, happy? We made the mistake and luckily, at least I, understood it before any deaths could be blamed on me. Now will you _please_ listen to whatI have to say?' Said Asuna regaining some of her temper! Kirito, a tiny part of the anger burning inside him now quenched, the part directed towards the Kings for not supporting him, widened his smug smile.

'Well, if you ask so nicely!'

'We must make them feel like reigniting the war! We must turn all their fear into rage and direct all that rage to Laughing Coffin! If we wait until they get used to their powers before going to battle the morale will have fallen! Ofcourse they will still need some training before LC's extermination but they will both do it more passionately and they wil look forward to the war instead of dreading it!'

Kirito was left speechless. Finally a person that understood the need for the war! And not only that but thought up the exact same plan as Kirito at the exact same time. Now that was a welcome surprise for a change.

'Agreed! Should I guess you will help me with that?' Asked Kirito

'Of course! Let's just go to the back where they are retreating to in order to get their attention.'

Kirito saw the crowd of people who were completely blocking the door and thought about the table he broke in his attempt to take a single step. In his mind he unwillingly merged the two and he didn't like the picture.

'And how do you propose we do that?' Asked Kirito. Asuna pondered a bit about this.

'I got this!' She said and started walking towards a window on the wall while Kirito followed him. 'We just jump!' She said as if it was the most normal thing in the planet.

Kirito extended his head from the window to peer down only to be greeted with a 9 floor fall.

'You do understand I do not have wings right?' Asked Kirito with an incredulous look on his face, a single eyebrow arched in an unspoken sarcastic remark.

'Neither do I but we both have a high STR score.' Said Asuna with some mirth but Kirito detected a bit of uncertainty behind her words.

'Are you certain this is good enough? That is a stone floor down there. Not exactly the best cushion material!' Kirito said uncertainness creeping into his voice. Asuna sighed.

'Well if you aren't coming then I guess I will have all the glory for myself.' And then she jumped out of the window… only to get stuck mid-air. She just stood there for a second before turning around to face Kirito. 'Well… this was unexpected!' She said. Her body frozen in mid air like as if she had suddenly gained the magical ability of flight, her auburn hair splayed out behind her like as if she were simply floating through water, sparkling underneath the sunlight.

Kirito looked at her. A dumbfounded look upon his face as he just … stared. His brain was trying to comprehend what he was seeing and his heart was scarcely believing that this was actually occurring. He was wondering if they found a glitch in the system or a part of the game that doesn't work well when he understood it was the opposite, it worked too well.

'Of course! The gravity!' He exclaimed. His eyes brightening up in a way that made the onyx pitch black shine with new light in the absolute darkness.

'Huh?' Came the response from the floating teen who had was currently twisting and turning like as if she was in a swimming pool. Her arms outstretched and hair floating gently behind her. Individual strands sliding across her face and if Kirito was being honest with himself, that look was one of a goddess.

'The acceleration is too small and we don't perceive it now the same way!' he answered, but yet even as his mouth moved and throat constricted and air was blown out of his lungs to form the wave lengths that vibrated in a certain manner that allowed people to understand one another; his mind was completely still. Captured by the sight before him.

Asuna was just looking at him.

'In other words, you are still falling, just really-really slow.' He said, a sigh escaping his lips as if he was talking to a six year old who understood nothing but how to pronounce their alphabets.

'Nerd!' She said and gave him a playful smile and glare. This was weird! 9 minutes ago they were discussing the pros and cons of war but now they were playing around as if they were on a date. Maybe they had truly gotten desensitized through all the exposure to death and-

Wait did he just think date?

Kirito's eyes widened as the realization crept through his mind like a corruption spreading through his thoughts. That definitely shook him out of his stupor.

'Kirito!' Asuna half shouted snapping Kirito out of his thoughts as he turned to look at the floating girl before him. She had, of course, long ago pressed down her skirt as to not reveal the hidden undergarments that laid beneath; privacy for a female was still priority after all.

'Yeah, what?' His reply came back to her as if he hadn't been ignoring her the entire time.

'Are you going to help me here or are you going to stare into nothingness for another hour or two?' She asked, her tone questioning whether or not he was going to assist her in the matter of returning to the window, or the ground, or simply stay staring at her.

'Sorry!' He said and tried to reach out for her but she had dashed way too far to reach with his hand alone. 'Come on!' He said while trying but at some point he felt like his arm would come off so he stopped. A sigh escaped his lips once more as the window frame was pressed painfully against his hips whilst the girl was just beyond the grasp of his fingertips.

'So what? Am I just going to have to wait to fall?' She asked.

Kirito could almost imagine her placing her hands on her hips and cocking them to one side with a slight lean of her upper body.

Wait, she was doing that. Never mind.

'No, I have a better idea!' He said as he placed one hand on the wooden frame, vaulted over and jumped out of the window in a single smooth motion. Unconsciously he had braced his body to feel the wind rushing around him as he fell, instead he felt … nothing. While in mid air he didn't feel like as if he was falling with the gut wrenching feeling of his stomach being left behind. Instead he only felt going forward while slowing down until he reached near enough to her when he completely stopped. It was like as if they were in space where momentum never ceased.

'Welcome to club "stuck in mid-air". Now what?' She grinned, her lips curving into a beautiful smile that he could feel nearly began to constrict his heart.

'Now I am going to kick you to the ground!' He exclaimed with a face splitting grin, as if he had stolen it from her as her own face turned into one of shock, worry and fear.

'You are going to do what?'

Without answering Kirito quickly turned his body like a pinwheel and placed his feet on her shoulder blades. Bunching up his muscles, although being careful to not put too much power into it in fear of heavily damaging her, and after seeing what had happened to that table it was a certainly most warranted caution; he pushed. Asuna flew towards the ground like a bullet, the world disappearing into a blur as she was launched off the ' _Kirito Cannon_ '. With split second decision making becoming the forward most thing in her mind Asuna twisted her body, one hand of course keeping her skirt down and intact, whilst the other acted like a balance as she spun and landed gracefully on her tiptoes while squatting to minimize damage.

Graceful like a swan!

That didn't stop a crater from forming around her though.

_Maybe she should lose some weight._ Kirito mused to himself as he watched her stare back up at him, fury alight in her eyes. If this was an anime he had no doubt there would be balls of fire dancing in her eyes.

'THAT HURT!' She screamed, her eyes narrowed into a glare that if transited over into possible damage would undoubtedly leave him a simple black husk, charred from the wrath of her eyes. However by the way she said it Kirito knew it wasn't anything major, it was just the sudden shock, and potentially her ego, that was bruised. Now though, for the awful part of the plan that he really did not want to do.

'Freeze' He said and then he started falling.

His senses dulled down and the world itself seem to lose its edge. Everything suddenly transited over from being in perfect clear detail into a single mass of blur as he fell like a bird out of the sky with their wings cut. But the feeling was unmistakable, he was falling. He could feel that feeling of his stomach being left behind at the apex of his jump, the feeling of the winds rushing against his face and making his eyes tear up, as well as the tunnel vision that overtook everything as he focused on where he wanted to land and how close the ground seemed to be getting to him. . He looked down and the ground was coming closer and closer. It was a game of chicken!

When the ground looked ready to hit him he screamed 'BURST!' And the world stopped moving once more.

He was about a meter away from the ground and with his perfected vision, he could see every grain of dust and dirt along the road, every graveled edge of stones that poked out from the brown dirt under them like some sort of peek-a-boo game.

'You know I have been waiting for more than 2 hours here!' Said a voice behind him that caused him to twist with his arms, generating enough momentum for him to spin and look at who was talking. He could feel a single warm and soft hand on his shoulder that stopped him from turning forever.

'You could have just frozen for a bit…' Proposed Kirito to the auburn haired girl who was standing above him.

'I did. That's why I said more than 2 hours and not more than a week.' Asuna replied back, words dripping with sarcasm that was acidic enough to melt through steel.

'Can you help me here?' Asked Kirito, although somewhere in the back of his mind he suddenly realized maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

'Sure' Said Asuna in a poker voice through a poker face mask, but he could've sworn he saw the slightest of grins shadowing her mouth.

She suddenly grabbed his ankles and pulled with everything she had… He sunk into the ground up until the neck. Surprisingly it didn't hurt more than banging your pinkie to a corner of the furniture. It is of course a lot but it is bearable!

Kirito looked up to see Asuna bowing down over him.

'Need any more help?' Asked Asuna in a sweet tone. Kirito tried to move only to find out that… he could. He reached his hands upwards and they broke through solid stone. He placed them around his body and pushed the ground, effectively pushing himself out of the hole.

_What the hell?_ He looked at his hands, incapable of believing what he had just done.

'How did you-' Asked Asuna but stopped

'I have no idea but I think you can do it too!' He said

'That's way above a simple update. The whole game and battle system must be rebuilt from scratch!' She concluded

'Tell me about it!' He exclaimed still looking at himself disbelievingly.

'In any case, we better get going. We must "calm down" the crowd.' She said in a business tone that would make Argo jealous.

'Wait-' Kirito started. Asuna turned towards him but didn't say anything. 'I want to… apologize' He said. Now that the rage and shock were gone he needed to let out the guilt.

'What about?' She asked casually

'For saying you were a possible traitor and for blackmailing you into staying inside the castle when your guild might be getting attacked!' He said struggling to find the words. Asuna just stood there looking him for a bit before sighing

'Look I won't lie to you. I was a bit hurt from your distrust but then I understood that I would have done the same. You have a lot on your plate. Leading a guild, organizing a war and never getting a proper chance to grieve… It can be tough. I don't know how I would have acted if I was in your position but right now… right now I feel like I should forgive you. So yeah, apology accepted.' She said and extended her hand. 'Friends?' She asked with a strange flinch crossing her face as she said the word but it was gone as soon as it came.

Kirito decided to ignore it and took her hand. 'Friends.' he agreed!

'Now come on. We have work to do!' She said and turned her back to him a bit way too quickly. Kirito was certain she was keeping something from him but he was also certain it wasn't anything ill-natured so he respected her privacy.

They walked the halls silent from that point onwards with Kirito taking the lead once they got inside the castle until they reached the back of the crowd.

'Ready?' Asuna asked

'As ready as I will ever be!' He answered

He raised three fingers to unfreeze at the same time.

He closed one finger and took a deep breath. He closed another and he let it out. He closed the third and took in the deepest breath he could. And then the word started moving.

' **SILEEEEEEENCE'**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Before I say anything a big applause to my new beta-reader Daniel Ong 37 He is awesome and is currently also writing an SAO ff called "Seven Kingdoms Online" which is awesome.
> 
> After that… well School is coming and updates will become a bit scarcer but there will be some. I have plenty of inspiration but too little time! Now I know that this chapter was a bit on the light hearted side and it was intentional. It was to let out some steam in order to not feel bad about what was coming next. Don't think that from now on this ff is going to be more humor and less drama. To emphasize that, next chapter I am raising the age group to M and we have Kuradeel's interrogation. I will let you guess what that means ! Please review and as always
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	15. Inspiration and Torture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So... we are now officially past the time of innocence. Allow me to introduce to you to the updated world of SAO (Mature edition). Read at your own discretion but don't take the M rating lightly

 

**Inspiration and Torture**

**Kirito POV**

The quality of everything around him dropped. Like as if the HD lenses which had previously covered his eyes like a second layer, was suddenly gone.

The world around him became less detailed, his ears started picking up voices but they were just an unrecognizable mix of them, nothing he could understand. Mere muffles that faded into background noise of everything around him like sound cupped behind some cotton wool.

The mob in front of him started moving towards him as fast as they could. A tide of bodies rising and pressing against one another, before realization struck them and they understood who was in front of them, certainly the fact that Kirito was purposefully trying to show that he was angry played a role in it too. Their eyes widened and their frightened expressions turned into ones of embarrassment.

Some of his guild members even kneeled and apologized. Kirito just held back his need to tell them to stand up as he hated when they were formal to him but right now he could take advantage of the respect formalities demanded. His eyes glazing over the mass before him with contempt and disdain at such mockery of their way.

Swiftly silence ruled the wide corridor as everyone waited for their leader to speak again. After the corridor became quite enough to hear a pin dropping he spoke. The previously writhing swarm of players stilling into absolute silence, frozen in their spots, as if time itself had stopped.

'Is _this_ the proud front line fighters?' He roared, 'Is this the hope and glory of the 10,000 people trapped inside this game? If I saw this out of context I would say it is just some chickens in plate armor! Congratulations. You saw some blood being spilt; boooo scary.' mockery filling his tone, riling up their anger. Speaking from experience, anger, was one of the best counter tactics to fear! It was like a hot fire that pushed away the shadows, 'Before this day, you wanted revenge for your fallen comrades. You wanted the heads of those who killed them, you wanted to be there and seize revenge with your own swords! WHERE ARE THOSE PLAYERS?' Screamed Kirito.

'Where are those brave soldiers that didn't accept their fate and fought back? Where are those players that put their lives on the line to save the weaker and scared? Where are the people I feel proud to call not only _comrades_ but _family_? The gamers that I knew wouldn't be scared, they would celebrate their first blood spilt and inspire fear to the wicked souls opposing them. The gamers I knew wouldn't run to get away, they would run away to get ready for the attack order!' Said Kirito and lowered his head while tightening his fists.

'Was I really that wrong about all of you? Is that really the extent of rage you have for the people who killed your families?' Asked Kirito in a lower tone and inside the room everyone, every member from every guild, people that had nothing to do with the ambassadors felt that their stomachs clenched and guilt from their unsightliness showering them like hot lava.

From somewhere within the crowd something was heard but Kirito didn't quit catch it.

'What?' He asked searching inside the crowd for the person that spoke.

'I said' said the voice again in a louder decibel 'no!'

'No what?' Asked Kirito pressing the player inside the crowd

'NO, you _weren't_ wrong about us!' Said the voice and finally the crowd split up giving way to the person that had spoken. It was Yin, the ambassador of the smaller guilds. 'We want revenge for the fallen. We want to seize it ourselves. We do want _Poh's head_ in a silver platter but did you see that?' She asked and gestured towards the conference room. 'Those weren't pixels, that weren't a simple change in HP numbers and an ingame avatar disappearing. That was a human with blood and bones and pain…' Her voice broke and she put one hand in front of her mouth to keep it from vomiting. When she spoke again the unsteadiness was gone. 'We didn't sign up for this. We aren't soldiers. We aren't _murderers_ like them. We don't enjoy killing.' She ended in a whisper

'No one does!' Responded Asuna and Kirito turned to his side to watch her. 'No sane person would enjoy it. That said, sometimes people have to do things they don't like to prevent the worst. Sometimes you have to punish the wrong to bring light to the right!' She said soothingly

'So I ask you this!' Kirito continued 'Do you want to be forever afraid of them,' He said and paused before raising his voice 'OR do you want to grab your weapons and finally show them that what they did isn't just wrong but _unforgivable_! Train and make them feel the pain you have felt through their actions! Seize the strength of this update and with that might make them _feel_ all the turmoil inside your gut and never let them do that to anyone EVER AGAIN!' He screamed 'So I ask you again, WILL YOU TAKE YOUR ARMS AND FIGHT?' At that primal roars and yeses were heard through the room. Only to raise their spirits Kirito asked again 'I CANT HEAR YOU!'

This time the room exploded in battle cries and swords were raised to the air. Kirito, pleased with the result gave a sideways glance to Asuna who nodded with praise.

'THEN GET READY! INSIDE THE NEXT MONTH WE WILL TRAIN AND THEN?' He said and smiled his most vicious smile 'THEN WE GIVE THEM HELL!' If anyone walked inside at that moment he'd think that the war was already won.

Kirito walked towards her and whispered to her ear. 'Can you make certain the other two leaders won't dampen the fire?' He asked

'I am pretty certain that it can't be dampened any way but I will do what I can!' She said encouragingly.

'Thank you!' He said 'Now I need to get information out of the new… asset.' He ended hesitantly. Asuna's face features hardened.

'Give them hell!' She said and patted him on the shoulder while he walked away.

As soon as he turned the corner away from them bursted and ran towards the infirmary, not without making some craters on the walls along the way! But as time went on he learnt how to use this extra strength and speed better.

His control of it was enhanced and his brain started to understand its body's new capabilities so he naturally adapted to them. That said he was definitely not ready for a battle. He would flail his sword around without being able to hit anything and put too much strength into faints as well as other such missteps. But so be it.

If real-life training was what he needed to seize vengeance then that's what he was going to get.

He got out in the courtyard where the infirmary was in order the knights to get easy access to it after sparring matches. It was nothing special just a small rectangular building with two small windows made out of grey stone.

He went inside the infirmary only to see Argo frozen over Kuradeel's body staring at his unconscious pained face. Of course she couldn't perceive Kirito and Kirito knew it so he froze. She had moved, so quickly, like a mere flash and a blur as the dagger that was in her hand was a mere millimetre away from Kirito's carotid. Kirito stood absolutely still; uncertain of what he did to get this, like a stone statue unsure of how to proceed after petrification.

When Argo raised her head realization struck her like a lightning bolt. She let her dagger fall to the floor with a metallic clank being heard and put her hands to her temples before squatting down. Her eyes screwed tightly shut as if what she had been about to do could be banished away if she simply ducked her head into the sand like an ostrich.

'I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!' She said in between sobs that ripped out of her throat, no mind for the being who was trying to calm themselves down.

'It's okay. Nothing wrong happened! See?' He asked and spread his arms for her to see he wasn't hurt, worry lacing his tone like the interwoven fabrics of a shirt.

' _NOT ABOUT THIS!'_ She screeched. 'About the blood. All that blood and his arm. His arm… I-I cut it off. And I scared everyone. Their screams were heard all the way here.' She said the way a scared 10 year old would. Kirito was truly shocked. It was the first time he had seen her truly break down. He had seen her lower her defences before but never truly breakdown. If he was being honest with himself he considered her unable to break down. An impenetrable wall of cheerfulness, sneakiness, teasing and at the most serious time business spirit. She had been a rock in his life, what he had perceived to be unbreakable and immortal, but yet now he saw past that to the hairline fractures that had joined together and cracked the rock.

He would never be able to picture her the way she was now. This was just one more reminder that he wasn't the only one grieving behind closed doors and hiding his feelings.

He was truly a terrible leader.

At that he felt something in his heart icing over. A part of emotion that simply numbed. It didn't stop working and it was still there but suddenly he felt like some other person was inside his head and speaking next to his ear.

**I can do better than you!** The voice said and Kirito's tightened all over.

He looked behind him only to be greeted with a simple stone wall.

Kirito understood he hadn't been breathing. He took a deep breath and lightly put a hand on Argo's shaking shoulder.

'What you did was the right thing-'

'And how do you know that? Didn't you see their faces? They think I am a monster!' She said hyperventilating

'No they don't!' He said sternly 'I talked to them, calmed them down. No one showed any fear towards you. And you want to know why I know I am right? If you hadn't done what you did, right now the Laughing Coffin would know everything. They would know where to attack and they would know our plans and knowledge. With your actions you saved dozens of lives. Remember that!' He said and he heard the sobs grow weaker and further in between. The shaking also started subsiding.

'It just feels wrong! And do you know what the worst part is?' She said in a broken voice. 'Now I know that I could have prevented Leafa's death! Intelligence gathering was my job and I didn't learn what Kuradeel is all about until today! I'm so useless!' She said and snorted full of contempt for herself.

'Would you do it to protect Leafa?' He asked

'Huh?' She asked and turned to him. Kirito took that chance and put his other hand on her other shoulder.

'If you had to do this to protect Leafa would you?'He asked again. Argo nodded decisively. 'Then think of it as the same thing. This person was one of the basic reasons that she was assassinated. Think of it as better late than never!' He said and gave her a warm smile.

She seemed to finally put a close to it as she rubbed her eyes clean of tears.

'Thank you!' She said and she gave him her trademark cat smile albeit this time it had some honest warmness. They were all coping with the guilt and Kirito couldn't do anything about it except wait for the others to finally find peace within themselves.

**I would be able to do more!** A voice once again said and Kirito violently shook his head to finally have it stop.

'Klein, if you would be as polite as to stop eavesdropping that would be nice.' Argo said carelessly

Kirito turned around to see Klein appear from the side of the door and come inside the room. His face was made out of steel and he didn't look in the mood for jokes.

'I'm not here to eavesdrop.' He said and his voice was heavy with underlying emotion. 'I'm here to get two things. Information,' He said and raised his index and then with that index he showed the unconscious Kuradeel 'and a tiny bit of closure to quench my anger.' He said evenly but inside those words there was a dragon's roar worth of intimidation.

Kirito knew that this wouldn't be a simple interrogation. Even if Kuradeel immediately started blurting out the answers Klein wouldn't let it go without causing some pain. And if Kirito was honest to himself… neither would he!

'Argo you don't need to see this.' Said Kirito and turned to her but her face wasn't scared any more. Her face had mixed emotions but as it went her eyes showed which one was the dominant. Lust for vengeance.

'No I don't… but I want to!' She said and went to the door, closed it and then locked it. Kirito sighed.

'Did you bring any tools?' Asked Kirito

'I brought _all_ the tools!' He said and spread a tool belt full of surgical instruments and blacksmithing tools on a nearby table. He replied to Kirito as if he was insane, like he was lacking common sense; why would he _not_ bring all the tools?

'Then tie him up and wake him up. This is going to hurt!' He said but deep inside him he couldn't find a single speck of remorse… or mercy; or anything.

Klein immediately went to work. He pulled the blanket from over him and Kirito saw that his bandages on the part that his arm used to be were soaked with blood. The cloth having turned red as the life force of a person bled through, drips of crimson splattered against the floor from the wound like a leaky tap dripping its contents into a basin.

If Klein or Kuradeel noticed neither showed it. Klein pulled a wooden chair and placed him on it. He then took some rope, bound his torso with the back of the chair, his arm to the armrest and his feet to the legs of the chair. Lastly he blindfolded him and took a step back to inspect any loose knots. When he seemed satisfied he went next to Kirito.

'Only one question left.' He said coldly 'How do we start?'

Kirito saw the body and his attention was once more gripped by the soaking wet bandages.

'Cauterization.' He concluded 'I don't want him bleeding out on us before we learn everything.'

Kirito's teeth gritted automatically at the inhumanity of his train of thought but he then remembered why this was happening and he almost immediately relaxed. This wasn't senseless inhumane torture. This was an interrogation and punishment. But at the same time, he could feel a coldness and uncomfortableness settling in his stomach like a frozen rock. It pushed at his intestines, forcing its way between the gaps and creating the feeling of unsettledness and slight pain, he grimaced from the feeling. It felt like he was about to vomit.

'You got it!' Said Klein from his side and ripped a piece of fabric from his clothing. He then took 2 knifes and made sparks with them. The fabric caught fire and he put one knife over them. When the knife became red enough he stepped on the fabric and turned it off. Then he unravelled the blood soaked bandages and positioned himself.

'This is for Harry One!' He groaned and pushed the red metal on the severed limbs skin. The blood immediately started to sizzle and burn while Kuradeel's eyelids and mouth both stretched open and a yell filled the room.

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH' He screamed at the top of his lungs, pain and shock ringing like gongs having been struck. The sound bouncing off the walls of the room like balls, returning with equal vengeance as when they had started.

Klein didn't stop the knife. On the contrary he pushed it a bit more to burn more. His face a stone mask while doing so but Kirito could see him exhaling forcefully as if he was in a fistfight and was trying to psych himself up. Kirito though didn't think he was irritated by the spectacle.

On the contrary he thought he was trying to expel as much anger as he could in as little time as possible!

'Klein!' Kirito said patiently and Klein simply distanced the knife while Kuradeel lowered his scream and hanged his head to take a breath. His long hair falling over his eyes and making him an even more pathetic image.

'Are you awake now?' Asked Kirito, his voice cool like ice and as hard as tempered steel.

'Y-yes…' Said Kuradeel barely able to breathe through the sharp pain, gasp involuntarily escaping between breaths as the pain throbbed in his arm.

'Good. Now me and my friends have some questions for you.' Kirito said with the most authoritative voice he had. Kuradeel tried to say something but he was chocked on a fit of coughing. Kirito considered which questions he should ask. He chose to first ask the most important ones.

'Where is your base?' He asked

'Exactly where you are going.' He said and gave a weak smile. 'In…' He was stopped by a strong right hook from Klein's armoured hand.

'Funny guy are you? Are you proud of that smile?' Asked Klein but his tone showed he found nothing funny about all this. As a response he was graced with Kuradeel's smile again 'Well then. I guess I will have to make it a bit uglier.'

He went towards his tool belt and took out a pair of pliers. Kuradeel's eyes lost all their mirth almost immediately.

'What are you doing?' He asked but received no response. Instead Klein wordlessly gripped his jaw in an iron grip an opened before shoving the pliers inside his mouth and gripping a tooth. The hardened metal taste filling his mouth as the metal plier wiggled into place, pressing against his cheek and tongue, wet against dry, soft against hard.

'Let's see if this will make you any more talkative.' He said and he started pulling. The tooth started getting away from its position and one by one the gum's tendons snapped. Each one heard inside the room filled with only Kuradeel's gargling. 'This is for Dale!' And then with one last pull the tooth was out. A white piece that was covered in speckles of red gore, the sharp roots dripping with small droplets of blood. Klein watched the tooth between the pliers. For just a second Kirito though he saw shock in his eyes but that was quickly replaced by will, like iron having been hardened in the flames of hatred and cooled in the waters of revenge.

Klein placed one hand on his shoulder, where the burnt part was, and applied some pressure; eliciting a cry from him.

'Now allow _me_ to ask this time.' He said 'Where-is-your- _base?_ ' He stressed each word like as if he had been talking to a toddler without the brain power to comprehend and accept what was being said.

'Eighth floor… In the swamp… but they will be waiting.' He said through heavy breaths, each pant releasing the slight gurgling sound of the blood that had been pooling in his mouth from the lost tooth.

'How did you learn when Leafa was going to the other guilds?' Asked Kirito and saw Klein tense up at her name. In fact he could sense the sudden tension that appeared in the room like an elephant, impossible to ignore and forget once noticed.

'I don't know?' He said like he didn't care. His attempted half mask reappearing as if he had tried to slip it on without his hands.

Klein didn't lose any time and went for another tooth before Kirito stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. Klein shoved his hand aside.

'What?' He asked

'We don't need to hurt him every time he speaks.' Said Kirito and that lighted up Klein's eyes

'Kirito let me ask you a question. Except your sister did you lose anyone else inside this game recently?' Asked Klein. Kirito was shocked by the question but when he tried to say something he was interrupted by Klein. The warrior continuing on like a train through a barrier made of tofu.

'Cause I lost many… You lost a sister? Well I lost _5_ brothers! They were my friends before I even got inside this game and after that we only grew closer. If you consider this guild our family then I lost all my closest relatives and I am left with cousins that I barely know. And do you know who is responsible? Laughing Coffin that's who! And guess what, this piece of shit' He said and motioned towards Kuradeel 'took pride in selling out the information about her assassination. You know I would expect you to be the one to do the torturing.' He said and his facial features contorted in ironic façade. 'Did you really care about her this little?' He asked and was punched in the face.

Kirito didn't even quit until he realized what had been played out. His hand had moved on its own but now Klein was on the floor rubbing his cheek. White hot rage burnt his insides and he felt like if he didn't let it out he would explode.

So he let it all out and anger exploded like a supernova.

'Don't even talk about my sister like that. You never had to fend off by yourself before. Well I did. And not only that I had to also protect her too. I also had to teach her everything from scratch. It was hard. There were days that I didn't sleep at all but you know what? She kept me going. One look of her smile and I could keep going. I did everything for her. I got strong for her, I built a guild for her and you dare come right in and doubt my love for her? How dare you?' Said Kirito furious. Klein lowered his gaze and his eyes became more sympathetic. The previous anger melting away like pure innocent snow under the heat and glare of a burning sun.

'Yeah I guess I deserved that.' He said self loathingly, 'Now can I continue?'

'Do what you want!' Said Kirito coldly. He had let his anger get the better of him and now guilt was being born but he pushed it back. 'But enough with the mouth. We want him speaking remember?'

'As you wish.' Answered Klein seriously. He then went to the tool belt and took out 5 needles. He then went back to Kuradeel and positioned one's pointy side just under the nail.

'No, no, no ,no…' Started Kuradeel but Klein didn't seem to hear him. He used the armoured palms of the armour and started pushing it inside. Kuradeel once again screamed. The sharpened small head forcing its way through hardened calcium and skin, pulling it apart with a vengeful force and will.

'HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' again Kuradeel screamed, it echoed like the distant whispers of ghost that were beginning to come to him, whispers of those whom he had killed; somewhere in his pain hazed mind he realized that he was doomed.

'How did you learn when Leafa was going to the other guilds?' Kirito repeated the question over the screams.

'I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T KNOOOOOOW!' He repeated shouting like a mantra. When the nail was fully inside Klein stopped.

'This is for Dynamm!' And then he used piece of metal as a lever and lifted the nail over the skin making Kuradeel give out a scream that in right should be belonging to an 8 year old girl. After that he passed out for ten minutes while Kirito and the rest sat and waited in silence.

Patience permuting the air like silence, a thick blanket that wafted over them, curled around them, in ways that was unexplainable.

When Kuradeel came to he raised his head and saw the figures that stood before him, he immediately strained against his bonds but to no avail. Rope burning against his flesh as he tried to move but was held back by the rage of his captors.

'I don't know… I-I swear… I don't know. Poh told me to say it to anger you to come at us immediately. I wasn't the one with the information.' He said whimpering in fear.

'Who had the information?' Asked Kirito

Kuradeel gulped.

'I-I don't know!' Klein took one step forward 'I DON'T KNOW. I really don't know. I swear!' He said panicking and shaking his head. 'I was only following orders.' He said

'Poh's?' Asked Kirito

'YES! Yes Poh's. I was only following his plan!' He exclaimed

'And what plan is that?'

'No one really knows. All we know is that it is going to end all the conflicts. He says he is going to make a utopia!'

'Anything else we should know?' Kirito asked

'No I have told you everything. Now please just kill me!' He begged

'What?' Asked all three of them together.

'I failed the mission and gave you information. If I go back now I will go through way worse than what you did for me. Please just… just kill me already.' He begged.

The three looked at one another. They all had the same reasons for the same mixed feelings. He was a murderer from the LC. He had killed people. But they weren't killers. But by letting him leave they surrender him to a fate worse than death.

Argo then spoke.

'On my mark burst!' She said and before they even understood it she started counting. '3,2,1'

'Burst' All three of them together said and now Kuradeel had a permanent still begging expression.

'Why did you want us to burst?' Asked Kirito

'In order for you to not say anything stupid.' Replied Argo cheekily

'What could I have said?' Asked Kirito confused

'Well you could have said one of two things. 1) "No we won't kill you. You are free to do whatever you want." Or 2) "As you wish" And boom he is dead.' She said mockingly.

'And what would _you_ oh great Argo have us do?' Asked Klein a bit annoyed at her condescending tone.

'Use him as bait of course.' She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, like as if she was talking to a pair of dunderheads, then again considering who they were that would not be that far off course. 'They want to capture and torture him? Perfect! We will wait for them and then get them.' Argo said

'And how do you propose we fight them? I don't know about you but I haven't gotten used to these high specs.' Asked Kirito

'Well neither have they besides… we can always wait long enough to get used to them before we go after them. And in the meantime…' Argo paused 'If anyone goes after him and he gets killed we will have another hostage and sneaked out another traitor.' Argo said. The two guys just looked at her. 'What?' she replied innocently, it was something that was so out of place from where they had just been.

'Sometimes you are just way too smart in some way too brutal things.' Kirito said with a slight shake of his head.

'Whatever…' Said Argo and pouted but she a bit of red glossed her cheeks. 'So are we doing this or what?'

'We are doing it. I will leave this to you and Klein if it is fine. I need to settle things with our other guests.' Said Kirito meaningfully.

'You got it!' Said Klein and graced him with light smile.

'Thanks!'

'Oh and Kirito…'

'Yes?'

'I am sorry for what I said before.' Klein said while rubbing the back of his head

'Yeah… me too.' And with that he walked out of the door. The afternoon sky was beautiful but he couldn't really appreciate it as his mind was set to the upcoming encounter. He ignored the HD world that was being displayed for him, refused to acknowledge it as he walked; each step cracking the ground.

Now it was his time to get scolded!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So once again a congratulation to Daniel Ong 37 . He is an awesome writer and beta-tester and you should totally read his story Seven Kingdoms online which I am betaing! Also I wanted to be soooooo mouch more psychotic and awful but then it would be out of character and then I though about making it a laughing coffin torture scene and be more humane to Kuradeel altogether but that would have diminished the character development. I wanted to pill his skin of and pull out all his bones piece by peace and then nail his intenstines to whil and start pulling slowly but can you imagine Kirito or Klein doing that? I cant!
> 
> Please review and tell me if you liked this chapter and if you like where this story is going! Also if possible I would really appreciate you telling me why people seem to drop this story at chapter 3. Is it really that bad in the beginning? And as always...
> 
> Glad to entertain you  
> Greghero


	16. Trial and Planning

**Kirito POV**

I walked back to the conference room. It had been about 2 hours since the “riot” and I felt a bit… fidgety.

I had clearly proposed ideas that we had decided against and gave a clear timetable too. I all but ordered armies that were not my own to prepare for war. I didn’t really regret it but I was a bit anxious of the consequences.

I reached the door and waited to see if I could get any information from what they were currently discussing.

Dead silence.

I planted one ear against the door.

Still nothing.

I sighed and straightened up. I then put one hand against the large gate and pushed hesitantly.

‘Well, well I was starting to think you would never come.’ Said Asuna’s voice amused.

‘Oh don’t be mean now. It is after all his HQ. He would certainly come back… at some point in time.’ Said Heathcliff’s voice a bit more cordially before revealing his own amusement.

I went through the door only to find Pontifex and Asuna looking at me from their chairs while Heathcliff didn’t bother to strain his neck.

Around us the room was empty. No lieutenants, no guild leaders, or former ones at least, and none of my friends either.

Now as much as I would enjoy the peace and quiet normally right now this was the equivalent of no witnesses.

I awkwardly walked to my throne until I understood that there was no one else here and I was sick and tired of pretending so I just took the chair across from Heathcliff with Pontifex to my right and Asuna to my left on the huge table.

I pulled the chair, sat down, straightened up, put my elbows on the armrests and knitted my fingers in front of me. Meanwhile I felt like an animal in the zoo with the way they silently looked at me. Asuna carelessly, Heathcliff with absolute lack of emotion and Pontifex with a small frown.

‘For how long will I be getting the silent staring treatment?’ I asked and a timid smile came from Heathcliff’s poker face.

‘Would you mind to tell me why my men are celebrating the beginning of the war preparations and talking about how they didn’t expect to make alliances with beasts to defeat demons?’ Asked Pontifex and the irony of the actual demons among those beasts was not lost to me but it was buried under a decent amount excuse production.

‘Well-’ I tried but was cut off                                

‘While you are at it could you please explain why my men are also asking if one month will be enough to prepare and if I have a plan on how to train them?’ Asked Heathcliff

‘Well about that-’ But I was cut off again

‘And maybe, as a last explanation, you could tell us what did you not understand about cancelling the war?’ Said Pontifex

Finally, something I could talk about without being on the losing side

‘When did we ever talk about cancelling it? We talked about postponing it. Now I am fairly certain that as your troops mentioned Heathcliff I said in one month. I did postpone it. One month is enough to get the hang of it even if not completely master it. After all, the more we wait the more Laughing Coffin trains too.’ I tried to support and I knew what I said had a million exploitable holes but it was the best managed.

‘And you wouldn’t consider it a good idea to talk about it with us instead of just bringing it up as a decision already made to the rest of the guild members?’ Asked Pontifex with reluctant formality. The way he was talking I was certain that his eyebrow was one step away from twitching

‘Well, Heathcliff was out of commission due to shock, you were praying, a big part of the former guild leaders had been reduced to a scared mob, the morale was dropping by the second and did I mention that I did talk it over with Asuna?’ I asked as her careless façade started showing some cracks.

The other two Kings stayed silent after that for a bit making the tension inside me build up. Pontifex was the first one to speak up.

‘As always the beast has a silver tongue…’ He said more to himself and were I not in the wrong I would be tempted to throw a dagger right through his skull. You just couldn’t get anywhere with people like him. Heathcliff was next

‘This conversation will get us nowhere.’ He concluded resigning ‘In truth we would probably have reached a similar result if we conferenced right now, in light of recent events I forgive his actions.’ He said and I understood he was talking to Pontifex the whole time. Pontifex straggled with his chair for a bit under all our gazes. He wanted this to be a good reason to pick a fight with me. He did care about me ordering his troops around but he preferred its diplomatic usage. Through all this a simple question came into my mind.

‘Pontifex may I ask you something?’ I asked. He relaxed and looked at me. Fairly intrigued too.

‘Certainly!’ He said

‘If right now, this very second you suddenly turned into an inhuman class what would you do?’ I asked and he was immediately lost in his thoughts. This was obviously an idea that had troubled him greatly too.

‘I don’t know!’ He answered sincerely.

‘Would it mean that your soul was tainted?’

‘No’ He answered

‘Would it mean that you were no longer human IRL?’

‘No’

‘Then why are we any different?’

‘Because you chose it. I wouldn’t have chosen it. It would have been imposed to me.’ He said and I thought about continuing but I gave up. People see only what they want to see.

I sighed.

‘In any case I am sorry for ordering your units. It shall not happen again and it was a rush decision but its intention was to prevent long lasting effects of fear throughout our members.’ I said trying to end my “trial” so we could discuss the rest. He pondered a bit about it before giving in.

To his credit he didn’t seem to give in because it was forced upon him but because he accepted my apology. I didn’t expect that.

‘When someone slaps you turn the other cheek.’ He said in an all-knowing manner and through great effort I let the continuous quoting drop. I was after all extremely lucky to get away with so little.

‘Now I would tell you to have a safe trip home but I am very afraid that the first two times it was jinxed so the third time…’ I said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

‘That is fine but before that we have to specify some details.’ Said Heathcliff and his mood was obviously not light.

‘By all means!’ I said eager to get this out of the way. Since my panic about getting the justified blame had retreated I understood how many things were now in my to-do list for the next month.

‘It is now 12th of July. Is it kay with you if we meet here again on 12th of August?’ He asked

‘I took it for granted that you would!’ I said matter-of-factly

‘Does any of you need any kind of help from the others in the month to come? Financial, protective or otherwise?’ Asked Heathcliff looking at the three of us questioningly.

‘We are good.’ I said. If anything, we could us a bit of help about having some more trainers but I also knew that the players that came to this guild would not want a human class teaching them anything. I, myself met some resistance when I said that I would bring here the other armies. Even if only for one or two days.

Seeing this one might think we are no different to Slane Theocracy but there was one basic difference. We had been attacked. They just didn’t like our looks. Many of us had serious psychological problems by the treatment they had received before we took them under our wing. Some of them were even left to die from their “human” friends because their group was getting stigmatized by their existence.

Putting a teacher in a class full of students with edged weapons that know how to use them _and_ want to use them towards the teacher isn’t the best idea. We would have to cope.

‘We are also fine.’ Said Pontifex.

‘What about you Asuna?’ Asked Heathcliff and Asuna started looking anxious.

‘I am truly sorry to ask this but… we do require some financial support.’ She said hesitantly.

‘What for?’ Asked Heathcliff

‘Well we got many new people inside the army and we could barely cope equipment-wise before. Now we are bound to have deficiencies.’ She said

‘Why didn’t you say so sooner?’ I asked shocked

‘Because we managed. All our current members are adequately equipped. But our treasury is now officially empty. We cannot arm anyone, especially 3 digits of people. We can still protect them but…’ She said apologetically.

The other two kings stayed silent. If we stayed like this for enough time I was certain that one of them would eventually give in and give her the money but there was also a good chance they would do it under conditions and with an angle. I had a better idea.

‘We will offer you the financial support you need.’ I said and her eyes widened. Everyone’s eyes were nailed on me.

‘Why?’ Was the only word that left her mouth and it had discernible traces of doubt. I did expect her to find this suspicious.

‘For two reasons. To buy Aika as well as to apologize.’ I lied simply. I would do it either way but some people just wouldn’t trust what you said if you didn’t give an ulterior motive.

‘Apologize for what?’ She asked again, her voice getting lower.

‘Apologize for 3 things. Being too late for your ambush, calling you and your comrades possible traitors and keeping you from returning to your HQ.’ I said simply.

‘But… I…’ She tried but her voice was breaking every time. Oh how it showed that the outside world was devoid of kindness. We had built our fortress here to protect us of the outside world. We had created this place and because of it my memories of how heartless it was had faded. But in the last 5 days I had been given a grim reminder of it all. Lies, politics, racism, ulterior motives, apathy. All of these things didn’t exist inside this castle and when I went out in expeditions I was always among comrades. Now I was seeing what living in such a world could do to a person. A world devoid of common values like comrades, true friends and help.

For the second time in as many days I appreciated how much my time with Argo and Klein and everyone, when I didn’t have to tough it all out, gave me.

‘Anyway,’ I continued to shift the attention from her and let her relax. ‘The rest of us need no help. Any other details that need tweaking?’ I asked and Heathcliff put his index finger and thumb on his chin.

‘One last question, what did you get out of my… guild member.’ He said picking his words carefully.

‘It was mostly a bust. Except the information that they are in the 8th floor and that Poh has some major plan we didn’t get anything. He wasn’t the one that sold out the information. He was told to act the way he did by Poh through a PM so there is nothing on that end either. For now, he is our prisoner. Do you want to have a go at him?’ I asked coldly.

‘No I do trust what you say and don’t believe I could get anything out of him that you couldn’t.’ He said in a tone that suggested that he knew what I did. He probably did have the gist of it.

‘Well I do guess it is time that we leave.’ Said Pontifex.

‘Of course.’ I said and stood up. ‘Do you need any help?’ I asked more out of etiquette than anything else. Some things had been truly drilled into me from Suguha.

‘No thank you. Goodbye and see you in a month… King of Power.’ He said rashly before deciding to plant one final jab to me at my title. After that he left the room wordlessly.

‘Kirito may I speak to you privately?’ Asked Heathcliff. At that I felt myself freeze for a second before forcing myself to relax.

‘Sure…’ I said reluctantly.

He came to me and whispered.

‘Do me a favor and on 1st of August come and visit me at the first floor’s boss room. I have a proposition for you.’  He said.

‘Okay but can I know what this is about?’ I asked baffled by the odd request.

‘It would be better not to. Can I put my trust in your discretion?’ He asked

‘I will be there!’ I said resolutely.

‘Thank you very much and best of luck in your preparation.’ He said before offering his hand for a handshake. I took it and shook it strongly. I really wished that a man like this could have been in my guild or better yet leading my guild. I would gladly allow him now if it wasn’t for some unwanted repercussions like the fact that my men trusted _me_ and were loyal to _me_ not him. And he was a human so…

 _Pity_ I thought as he started moving away to the door. After he left it was just me and Asuna in the room who was still seated and didn’t show any signs that she would do anything about it in the foreseeable future.

‘So are you going to stay with us or…’ I started trying to snap her out of it. I made it.

She looked up to me and stood up.

She started walking to where I was decisively, her gaze made out of iron, and I started to backpedal sub-consciously. At some point, I reached a wall and stopped while she kept getting closer.

She stopped one step away from me.

She tried to say something but no sound came out. She opened her mouth again to speak but still no sound.

After a bit her gaze softened into formal.

 _Still better than before_ I thought

‘You asked for my forgiveness and I gave it to you. Do you really think that I lied or that any form of currency would make me forgive you if I had indeed lied to you?’ She asked and I started seeing the bigger picture. She was offended.

One misunderstanding after the other.

‘No I did not but I did it because I felt that I was in your debt and I meant it when I said I want your NPC. She was my sister’s!’ I said trying to reason

‘And the thought that I would give her to you either way never crossed your mind?’ She asked and I had to say it did. Actually, I was certain that she would but… oh to hell with it. Truth time.

‘Look I just felt like it was the right thing to do. I do not have any worthwhile excuses or reasons for it. Here, happy?’ I asked trying to sound frustrated in order for her to accept it and move on. It was getting awkward.

She just stood there and looked me in the eyes.

‘Well then I will do the same. I want you to meet me on the 59th floor in 8 days’ time!’ She said and I was made my best guppy impression.

‘Why?’ I ended up saying although I knew the answer that I would get.

‘Because I feel like it. Annoying isn’t it?’ She said with a cocky smile. I guessed that much.

‘Fine, by the way how much col do you need?’ I asked

‘3,000,000 col.’ She said and I felt a tightening in my non-existent wallet. The problem was I was paying for this from my personal budget as Agil would probably take my head off if I took it from the treasury. So it was a bit… bad. I had it but it still hurt. I tried to not show it though.

‘Okay. I will give it to you on the gate. I will go get it now.’ I said

‘Will be waiting.’ She said playfully and all but skipped to the door, leaving me alone in the room. I just stood there remembering how much happened in the last 24 hours.

 _At least I managed to push back my anger_ I thought as I understood that now I was a bit better. I wasn’t tranquil or calm or even neutral but at least I wasn’t boiling with anger. No, what I was feeling was a constant feeling of knocking. Lie something was knocking on my mind, making me unable to forget or to calm down. I had briefly felt some cheerfulness or anxiety but that was on the surface. If I stopped paying attention around me my mind immediately flew to thoughts of vengeance.

I would just have to drown myself in work.

I reached my room and made a large pouch with the money she asked from the pile. I then reached the gates where carriages where already leaving. The two kings and one queen stood under the arch talking cheerfully.

I reached them and Pontifex’s face immediately became a scowl.

‘Farewell then and I hope I see you in one month.’ He said and got inside a carriage which left almost immediately as we watched him.

‘Well this is for you.’ I said giving Asuna the pouch which she took and immediately through inside another carriage which I guessed was her own.

‘Thank you again and I hope we see each other soon.’ She said in an honest smile before giving a small respectful nod, which I repaid, and getting inside her carriage. As she left I felt a small pat on my shoulder.

‘Do not forget our meeting!’ Said Heathcliff ominously and went next to his carriage before turning to me once again. ‘It was a pleasure Kirito!’ He said honestly and went inside before leaving.

I just stood there for some time watching the carriages leave. When the last one was off I watched the iron barred gate fall down and seal the castle.

It was going to be a long long month!


	17. Nightmares and Sparring

**Kirito POV**

As I was ready to turn around and leave I felt a pat on my shoulder. I turned around and found Klein looking me in the eyes. Not speaking, just staring.

As I opened my mouth to speak he sighed and I stopped.

‘That was one fine show you threw inside there!’ He said in a laid-back manner.

‘Are you talking about the speech or the Aika part or…?’ I listed curious. He just gave me a smug smile.

‘Well all of them but I was talking about the speech.’

‘You were listening?’ I asked surprised

‘Hard not to. After all you weren’t whispering everything to the crowd. The whole castle heard you!’ He said but I could spot a hidden meaning to all this.

‘So… do you think you can keep it together for a month?’ I asked trying to pass it off as a joke but by his serious face I didn’t think it worked.

‘Kirito, the truth is I didn’t come here to congratulate you.’ He said and I felt violent shivers run through my body. He couldn’t be thinking to march off, alone right? Or even worse… suicide? No please ‘I came here to apologize.’ He said and felt my feet giving out in relief.

‘Never do that again!’ I managed. He just furrowed his eyebrows.

‘For a moment there I thought you were pulling a Silica on us!’ I said and he chuckled

‘Nah. I still have to cover your back. I owe that much to your sister at least.’ He said somberly, almost nostalgically. ‘As a matter of fact I came here to tell you just that.’ He said and looked down to the ground. ‘I was so caught up in my own turmoil to think about what you were going through. I wanted to apologize for any trouble I caused you and just tell you that you can count on me from now on.’ He said while putting one hand behind his head and trying his best to make his usual carefree smile but instead managing a sad one.

‘Klein, I don’t know what to say…’ I tried. I couldn’t accept apologies for something that I, myself did but it would be as if I wasn’t forgiving him anyway I said it.

‘It’s okay. Just… tell me the schedule. I am certain some battle training and some expeditions will do both of us some good.’ He said calmly and I could feel his mood seeping into me. A somber melancholy. So much like him.

‘I am certain that they will but no expeditions yet.’ I started and his face was already crestfallen. ‘But…’ I said and he looked back ‘We have some serious training ahead of us. We will have to train the new recruits and we are shorthanded in the teaching department. Can I count on you on that, Yasushi?’ I asked formally until the last word where I turned it to playful, making him one of the biggest compliments you could to Klein.

Making an analogy of him with the samurai general from whom his guild took its name. Yasushi was Klein’s idol and his eyes lighted up as he made the connection. He finally broke out of his melancholy and gave me a wide grin and a thumb up.

‘Just say the word, King of power!’ He said with a playful jab.

‘And for that you are going to help the new guys settle in the houses we have!’ I said with my own evil grin as he pouted.

‘You are no fun Kirito!’ He said mockingly and I felt a bit warm inside with my friend’s antics.

‘So, I expect all the new recruits on the training sand and ready by 10 tomorrow morning.’ I said

‘Okay, okay. I am now going before you put any more jobs on my shoulders. Have a good night’s sleep!’ Klein said as he was jogging back to the plaza where his “real estate clients” were.

 _No promises_ I thought to myself. And started my way to my room. As I passed through the city everyone greeted me. The older the members the more careless the greeting. The oldest ones just raised a hand while some of the newer ones even bowed to me. I just quickened my pace when the latter happened. It was just so awkward.

After 10 minutes, I reached the training grounds between the city and the castle. There were some people there but they didn’t pay me any attention. All of them knew my policy about training. If no one has been maimed or passed out, you keep training until you yourself pass out.

I reached my room with no more encounters. I opened the door and locked it behind me giving a small glance to the pile next to my door. I cursed myself for my love of loot and decided I needed some sleep more than I needed to organize this. After all it had been a week since I got more than 4 hours of sleep. And even those had nightmares.

I just picked some casual clothes through the pile, stripped down my swords and cloak. Before I wore my casual clothes, I went to the full body mirror to check my body for any changes. I found out that my muscles had become a bit more toned but nothing too special.

‘Burst!’ I said and my eyes widened at surprise. From one moment to the next I suddenly had the body of an Olympic swimmer. My abs were a perfectly defined eight pack and my hands were toned and bulkier but my build was nice and lean. ‘Freeze’ I said and I returned to normal.

‘Interesting!’ I mumbled and shrugged. It didn’t matter in the end how you looked. The only thing that mattered was your actual power. I put on my casual clothes and went to my bed. I closed my eyes and nightmares infested my mind.

Horrific images filled me. Silica with her eyes clawed out by herself and blood tears running down furrows in her cheeks made by herself. She was screaming at m but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. I was screaming that I was sorry but I couldn’t hear my own voice.

No sound came out of me.

Then the picture changed and I saw Suguha. She was on the ground, beaten bloody and surrounded by cloaked figures. They kicked her and punched her all while she cried and asked for me to go to her but I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed. Then the circle opened up and they all gave way to another figure that held a butcher knife.

Poh

Now I screamed and tried with all my might to move but to no avail. I couldn’t move a single finger. He raised his knife in a reverse grip and lowered it right on her heart. Suguha’s body tensed up for a second. With the last of her power she tried to raise her arms.

And they fell to her side. Soullessly.

I finally heard myself. I was screaming. But it was pointless. She was already dead. My screaming lowered. My throat was sore. My body would still not move.

And then darkness consumed it all.

 **‘I can stop it all if you want!’** Said another voice cheerfully.

I looked around but saw nothing.

 **‘Hello, Aincrad to Kirito! You there?’** The voice asked and I still tried to discern where it came from.

‘Who are you?’ I asked

 **‘Just a friend!’** The voice said and I found out I wasn’t in the mood to play that game.

‘What do you want?’ I snapped at the voice. I was so tense I felt physical pain in my gut.

 **‘How rude! I just wanted to take away all these nightmares. To help you!’** He said and I could imagine him smiling innocently.

‘What’s the catch?’ I asked

 **‘No catch. I am just here to make your life easier. I will take away these bad dreams and allow you to get some sleep. What do you say? Can I take these dreams or are you too attached to them?’** He asked in a playful manner.

‘If you can feel free to take them. I don’t want to see these images anymore!’ I pleaded finally a shadow took form through the darkness. It was humanoid and had purple fires for eyes. Except his eyes his teeth also shined through the darkness in a face splitting smile.

 **‘Your wish is my command!’** He said. Then he snapped his fingers and I slept.

I woke up and felt as fresh as it got. I had finally gotten a nightmare less night. I felt emotionally better too. I had an unusual energy, even though the melancholy because of Suguha.

I looked out of my window and by the position of the sun I estimated that it was around 10 o’clock. I jumped out of bed and got to my inventory pile. I dug out my armor pieces and after some fiddling with the way I finally put them on. I then strapped on the sheaths with a bit more ease than yesterday and put both my swords inside them. Lastly I wore my coat and got out of my room. I went down to the training ground. There awaited me a very large line of players standing in attention. In front of them stood Klein and Argo examining them with their eyes. They were so many… at least some of them would go to the white spell, otherwise it would be too much.

‘Greetings King! How was your sleep?’ Said a familiar voice from behind me although the tone was baffling.

‘Surprisingly my sleep was excellent. Two things though. One, never again call me king or any other honorifics. Kirito will do.’

‘Understood. And number two?’ She asked officially?

‘Why are you so cold, Yin?’ I asked as I turned around to her.

‘Well we are in front of a three digit number of recr-‘

‘Comrades’ I corrected

‘Comrades. I wouldn’t want to make it seem we are in some kind of close relationship!’ She said and I raised my eyebrow.

‘Well I am going to try to build a close relationship with every one of them so why should you be an exception?’ I asked smugly. It seemed that I had woken up with an appetite for jokes too.

‘Wouldn’t that reduce their respectfulness?’ She asked and I gave her yet another questioning look.

‘Respect has to be earned. My fame may proceed me but that novelty always wears off in the end. While if they know me for who I am they will either respect me for that or the doors are always open for them to leave and I can promise that there will be no repercussions. I have proof too!’ I explained

‘Well if you allow me I will prefer my usual demeanor over this. I prefer to show more respect than needed than less!’ She said and I just sighed and turned around.

Every single pair of eyes was now stuck at me. Juuuuust perfect.

‘Argo!’ I called and she walked to my side. Did you file everyone’s level and weapon of choice?’ I asked

‘All done Kii-bou!’ She said, earning a wide-eyed response from Yin at her attitude.

‘Okay. Can you divide them to white and black spells?’ I asked

‘Already done that!’ She said

‘Well can you send the white spell to Agil and Liz?’ I asked again

‘Already done that too!’ She said smugly and looked at me full of expectation. And then it dawned on me.

These were _just_ the dark spell.

‘Please tell me you are kidding!’ I pleaded but she shook her head making me hang mine.

‘On a positive note you look better today!’ She said curiously but happy.

‘Yeah, I had a very good sleep. Now… back to business. How many senior black spells do we have?’ I asked

‘100 hundred that I find eligible to teach.’ Said Klein while coming towards me. We were now the spectacle of all the gamers in front of us who watched as in absolute silence.

‘And how many are the new members?’ I asked hesitantly

‘1000 or so!’ Said Argo and I could already see my schedule for the next month.

‘Great! Well first things first. Kirito, will you do the honors?’ Klein said and I took some steps forward to stand in front of the new recruits. Most of them seemed to feel uneasy with my presence

‘Good morning everyone. As many of you may know I am Kirito. I am the leader of the guild you are now in. Now normally you would have been briefed beforehand of what awaits you if you join this guild. Since this isn’t the case here allow me to do so. You will train rigorously daily, and when you don’t you will go on exhibitions on the floors where you will get the most XP with no danger. Now normally I would allow you all to go after one week of training but seeing how many of you are from floor one and how there are no sword skills any more I will now set a new system. You are going to leave these walls with your teacher only when he deems it fine to do so. Never alone, otherwise we cannot guarantee your safety. There are roughly 100 teachers and 1000 of you so each teacher will be having 10 students. The 30 best of you will go under my, Klein’s and Argo’s tutorship. Anyone who believes that we aren’t good enough to be your teachers?’ I asked and was greeted with silence. I took a look behind me and saw that Klein had already called all the senior members. I then turned back to the new ones. ‘Good, now go choose your teachers and have fun!’ I said and gave a polite smile as everyone nodded and started walking towards their teachers but always maintaining a distance from me while they passed.

I just looked at each of their faces to see their emotions and I was pleased. To most of them the ruling emotion was determination to fulfil a purpose!

**Linebreak**

After 3 hours, we finally managed to split the groups in a reasonable manner.

After that we just watched them getting taught the basics. Me, Klein and Argo supervised them by passing through the groups and see how each one faired. Most of them were sloppy but they weren’t too bad. Although the ones that came from the town of beginnings stuck out like a sore thumb. They looked like they had never held a sword before and the worst part was that this wasn’t far from the truth.

After some time, we got bored and just sat at a bench in the shadow. All three of us watching the recruits leisurely.

‘About that sparring match…’ I broke the silence and both of them grinned at me.

‘Which one of us first?’ Asked Argo

‘You!’ I said to Argo and Klein just sighed and stood up.

‘Let’s see it.’ Said Klein

As we walked towards our special arena we earned many weird looks and murmurs. And then they all went haywire. The murmurs started becoming cheers and almost all of them stopped all pretense of training and followed us.

‘What just happened?’ I asked

‘I told Dexter to spread the rumors of what we are going to do!’ Argo said and I felt blushing fill my face. That little… when did she even say that to Dexter? Dexter was her NPC and was a phantasm class so he could go invisible but I didn’t even hear her speak. Oh, to hell with it. I would just have to make her regret it.

We reached the arena and I didn’t even bother with the crowd. I just immediately went to the preparation room. I sat there for a bit before Klein walked in and leaned on the wall.

‘Nervous?’ He asked

‘Just wondering how much ridiculing is okay before she decides she needs to pay me back!’ I said cheekily

‘None of it is okay nut before you go out there remember two things.’ He said and I leaned forward to listen ‘I fight with the winner and if she kills you I get your swords!’ He said. I just stood up and walked out the preparation room while giving him the middle finger.

As I walked out I noticed there were more people… a lot more… apparently they liked it when two skilled warriors classed. Well I did too so I wasn’t blaming them…

I had my fingerless gloves on while my swords sat nicely in their sheaths while I walked calmly to the center of the ring. Once everyone settled down Argo came out of her end. Her hood was up and she was armed to the teeth with throwing toothpicks while even though I couldn’t see it I was certain that hidden under the cloak was her dagger in its sheath.

There were multiple murmurs in the crowd saying how long I would last in the rounds.

Then an announcer started talking.

‘Are you ready?’ Asked a male voice from everywhere within the stadium. For just a minute there I felt sorry for Kayaba. He had put time and effort to create this skill with which ghost classes could speak from everywhere at the same time so you couldn’t spot them before they attacked. Now this was used as a normal microphone. The crowd cheered in acknowledgement. ‘I CANT HEAR YOU!’ Said the voice and I just shook my head as the whole stadium roared in approval. ‘Then let’s do this. In one corner, we have the kiiiing ooooof poooooooower, Kiritoooooo!’ The crowd cheered ‘On the other we have Argoooo the Raaaaaaat!’ He said and the crowd kept going insane. ‘Let’s do this! Come forth people and see a match you will never forget. As he finished Argo looked up at me with her usual feline smile. We exchanged looks for a second, not saying a word to each other while we stood there. ‘Begin!’ Dexter yelled.

In a split second everyone in the stadium that could bursted.

As soon as Argo said it she started toothpicks at me as fast as a machinegun probably even faster. I could barely dodge the first one when the second one was coming. I stole a look behind me to see that the toothpick had passed cleanly through the wall without as much as a crack to show that it met resistance. If one of those got to me it was a health crystal or death. After five toothpicks, I unsheathed the Elucidator, people gasped at the sword since they knew how high level it was and how high your stats had to be to use it but she just continued firing the toothpicks as I closed in slowly, making sure to not get an arrow to the leg while I evaded and parried the toothpicks but I tried to not parry too much as the force behind them was hurting my wrist. She tried to back away but she hit the wall with her back.

She stopped the toothpick attack and drew her dagger as I was five feet from her and started running forward. I block the first strike with elucidator as I drew Dark repulser. She jumped back and attacked gain; I tried to take a quick step backwards but I put in too much force and my foot dug itself inside the ground up until the ankle as I accidentally tripped and fell backwards while slashing up.

I caught myself with enough time to see Argo gripping her forehead. She looked back but with something I didn't expect, her hand held her bangs in her hand. Suddenly I felt a rumbling around me as I ran back to the middle to avoid flying rocks and sand.

Suddenly chains shot out of the ground so fast I was caught on each hand and foot hogtieing me and forcing my swords out of my hands. She walked forward slowly and grabbed her dagger. She had rigged the arena.

‘Because you had to cut my fashion statement you're going to get it.’

I almost laughed but held it together as she got closer, I used all my strength to break the vines but to no avail. She was five steps ahead of me now. I tried and shifted and felt that my arms would break when I heard the metallic sound of breaking.

‘You have got to be kidding-‘ She started in shock but I ran at her, tackling her to the ground in a mess of limbs. Through this mess I reached for one of her toothpicks and unsheathed it. Then I turned her one last time getting on top and positioning it a millimeter from her throat.

‘Yield!’

She had a cheeky smile while she nodded. I got off her and the crowd roared in excitement.

I got up and offered her a hand. She just looked at it before deciding to take it as I raised her to her feet.

‘I’ll have the revanche!’ She whispered into my ear and strolled off to her seat in the bench.

‘Freeze!’ I said and saw that at least half the crowd looked perplexed by what just happened. They couldn’t burst. We should have thought of that. After some quick explanations were given by Argo many complained while some outright left. What I didn’t expect was for even more people to flood in the stadium taking the place of those that left.

Just how many people had left they were doing to watch a fight? Apparently, all of them, was a valid candidate of an answer.

I walked back to the preparation room. In its entrance waited Klein.

‘Give me 5 minutes and we are starting out match okay?’ I asked

‘You got it!’ He said and went to the other preparation room.

I needed to relax a bit. Let my muscles lose their tension. As long as I was in burst mode I was perfectly fine but now I feel a bit shaky. I guess changes in speed really do mess your brain. After five minutes sharp I got up and walked out again. The stadium was once again full to the brim and this time I was certain that everyone would watch the battle. I had a feeling that Klein wasn’t in the mood to play soft.

The first surprise was when he came out of his entrance with a shield and a sword that wasn’t his.

‘Eh… Klein?’ I asked and he smiled.

‘Don’t you want to give them a worthy show after the warm up?’ He asked and I decided to humor him.

‘Deal!’ I mouthed to him and as he smiled I turned to the crowd. ‘AS LONG AS MY DEAR FRIEND HERE USES THESE WEAPONS I SHALL FIGHT EMPTY HANDED!’ I announced and the expressions of the crowd were just priceless.

‘You heard him folks. He said it.’ Said Dexter with obvious awe. ‘He will go weaponless in this battle with his friend. Get ready cause this is a battle between the 2 most powerful members of this guild.’ He announced and the crowd went crazy. Once every now and then one just had to give in to theatrics but I just could feel that this wasn’t me. I was never one for these theatrics. In fact, I couldn’t stand them. But now they just came to me naturally. I was feeling a strange energy. A strange calling for battle. A strong calling for danger.

I smiled and the countdown began again.

‘Ready, set, GO!’ Dexter shouted and the whole world was filled with the word burst.

As soon as Klein said it he darted at me wasting no time at all, seeing how fast he could finish this. He ran with his shield first on his left arm, I didn't move an inch at all. As Klein was a meter from me he reared back his arms to stab me in the gut.

What happened next was a complete shock for everyone, as I used my fists. I brought back my right arm as Klein brought back his sword to stab me. I then punched the shield so hard it literally made the samurai fly through the air and hit the ground 3 meters away.

A large crack was heard as it happened it sounded like a whip hitting something. Once Klein got up he examined his shield, it wasn't broken but there was something else. There was a shape of a fist embedded into his shield, this scared him seeing as if he didn't have the shield he would be ground meat.

I started to walk forward as Klein stood up, I then started running towards him. Klein hid behind his shield and charged again, but this time he suddenly found himself smashed into the ground under his shield. What happened was I had jumped and punched the shield strait down leaving another dent in the shield.

The crowd was silent as this happened, non-spoke they just awed at the immense strength my avatar build was capable after the update. During this whole thing I hadn't spoken a word; I just played with Klein a little longer by dodging and weaving in and out of his strikes. Finally I had enough of playing with him and went in for the knockout; I rushed forward as Klein was charging.

Klein didn't see it coming as I planted a hard punch on the side of his cheekbone; he instantly hit the ground after one spin from the power of the punch. Klein though wasn’t fazed at all. He was just getting hit throughout this match but he didn’t seem to feel anything.

‘So… shall we raise the tempo a bit?’ He asked and I was definitely in.

‘Let’s!’ I said and grinned with him.

After the quick exchange, he dropped his shield and sword in favor of his trustworthy katana, karakurenai! He drew it in a form of ritual as he positioned it right in front of his face. I just drew elucidator as positioned it behind me with one arm at the front extended to Klein. We waited for the first move, anxiously we grabbed our weapon of choice for the fight.

Klein made the first move.

He charged with a war cry and sword high. I held my sword ready to strike as soon as he got close enough. Klein swung his sword in an arc and I parried it with mine.

We exchanged blow after blow in a dance so fast that sometimes we had to act on instinct instead of vision. After countless hours of sparring and fighting side to side we both knew every single move the other had to offer but now these moves were slightly altered. We executed our sword skills out of muscle memory but now we could use small alterations to create a surprise factor. It was a battle of resilience as we gave no ground.

In the end Klein slipped up first.

He reared back to hit me with his fist. Wrong choice. I punched him with my free arm right on his fist. The difference? My gloves had iron balls on the knuckles.

Klein rolled back about a meter, but he finally showed signs of pain as he stabbed his sword to the ground and held his other hand. Just as I was about to start running at my weaponless opponent he threw a toothpick and on complete instinct rolled out of the way.

‘What the-‘ I tried to say at Klein’s new found skill but as I turned back around to see Klein ready another toothpick and fire, I closely dodged this one too. This went on for about one minute once Klein ran out of toothpicks, he grabbed his sword and ran at me one last time.

‘Well, you are cheating so I’m not too sorry for this…’ Was all Klein heard, before he suddenly found himself flying through the air in the nearest wall.

What I did was roundhouse kick him in the face before he could parry with his sword, which made him fly. His face now had a nice boot print in it now. Once the crowd died down from the cheers of my hit Klein rose and he was obviously shaken. I briefly wondered if he had a concussion before he turned to me again but now I could see some serious fight spirit coming from him. I knew what he would do and I was truly afraid of it.

‘Well Kirito, better get your second sword out because I am kicking it up to eleven!’ He said as he seemed to be in an absolute battle trance.

Only one word left.

‘Berserk mode!’ He said and his body started changing. He got bigger and bulkier and extremely uglier.

Klein was truly monstrous in his berserker form, standing at immense height, and when I say immense I mean 2,90 made of pure muscle and looked like he was on steroids. his purple glistening flesh rippling with muscle. His fingers were tipped with razor-sharp black talons. His shins were the size of coffins, and his hands were as large as crane scoops. However, his most terrifying and distinguishing feature was his face.

His eyes were pure lack with a small blood red dot in the center. His purple skin turned a sickly dark around his neck and his teeth didn’t seem to fit into his mouth as some of them always stayed outside. He was nose less as there was an empty hole where his nose would normally be. And lastly his horns. Unlike regular demons whose horns stack out in a bull like fashion, Klein’s horns were two and they ran the entire length of his back with their slick, black, bone like structure. He reached into the air and through a pillar of flame he pulled out a double headed battle Axe which he promptly positioned on his shoulder.

Now although normally this would classify as magic this class could do this with only one weapon which was upgraded as they leveled up. It was so the Demons didn’t have to fight bare-handed and it was a small exception. Although I don’t think they would fare too badly bare handed…

He had a smug look on his face that showed confidence that he was going to beat me with a flick of his hand. I just took out dark repulser and got into my ready position and waited for mister muscles to attack.

The crowd stood quiet at the monstrous transformation. There weren’t many demons through the players but even for the ones that had seen it this was still a sight to behold.

Another pause and a stare off. We looked at each other as Klein seemed to lick his teeth.

It was my turn take the first move!

Within an instant I was running at him like a ninja, arms back and all. He swung his massive battle-axe faster than I thought so I ducked under the swing.

Amazingly Klein stopped the swing and swung downwards at me as I did. Klein’s abilities never ceased to amaze me. I dodged the strike once again and rolled to safety. When the strike hit the ground, a huge crater formed in the middle of the pit which I was barely not a part of as a mud cloud covered me whole.

As the cloud settled it revealed a curious Klein about my whereabouts.

The moment he saw me I charged again but Klein was already during mid-swing as he let go of the axe and punched me in the face. The punch hit me right in the face and it was my turn to fly.

But mine wasn’t gentle.

I made a beeline to the seats of the stadium. I crashed on a seat that had been evacuated a split second earlier and I felt the wind getting kicked out of me. I slowly got up and whipped the blood off my mouth and stood back up.

I then made a small leap which got me back into the ring.

‘Klein, I know you can’t speak like this but I don’t need an answer. Just be a bit careful of the third parties.’ I said as he nodded.

I then took one of my own toothpicks and got ready. When I aimed it to go right to his kneecap I shot it. As expected he swung the hammer downwards with all his strength. I shot forward under the blow and kicked his kneecap; once I did Klein lost balance and face planted in the ground. I wasted no time grabbing his horns and holding elucidator to his throat.

‘Revert!’ I said as I pressed the blade to his throat. He said something in a weird language and he started shrinking until I was holding his bandanna instead of his horns.

‘Good match’ He said, as I let go of him and helped the monster of a man up. The crowd cheered in excitement at this match of skill and power.

As I held him up I was glad to see a smile in his face for all the cheering. Then we said freeze and we both passed out with those same smiles.


End file.
